Save My Life
by BadassDixon
Summary: Berenice Baker is just a regular girl who gets involved with the BAU when a subject known as The Crawler chooses her as his next target. The team will do their best to protect her, and Dr. Spencer Reid will find himself trying to control his growing feelings for this special girl. Spencer Reid/OC.
1. Chapter 1: Unexpected Meeting

**_AN: _**_This 12 chapters-length story changes the usual point of view of the show, focusing on the victim instead than on the Unsub. I rated it T, though there will be some violent scenes and disturbing moments (as you know, Criminal Minds isn't a walk for the park, is it?), so if in any moment someone thinks I should rate it M, let me know. The story mixes the team and their investigation of the case, Berenice's thoughts and fears and the growing romantic feelings Spencer and Berenice will experience for each other. I'll post one chapter a week or some. Reviews and PM are always welcome! Thank you for reading!_

_Obviously, Criminal Minds' rights are not mine (I wish), only Berenice and others OC are mine (Kat, Ginger… well, you'll know them!)._

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"_There is no need to know danger in order to fear it: indeed, it may be observed, that it is usually unknown perils that inspire the greatest terror."_ -Alexandre Dumas.

**_Chapter 1: _**_**Unexpected **_**_Meeting _**

Berenice was leafing absently through the newspaper as she repositioned the round sunglasses over her nose. Reading the newspaper always pained and angered her, but she knew that was how she should feel given the current world situation. She rested her chin on one hand and lifted her finger to bite the skin around her nail, painted in pink and green, as she let out a snort through the nose.

"Do you want something else, Miss?" the waiter asked, startling her. It was the third time he went to ask, and she still had the same bottle of Coke as the first time. Still, she grinned, showing her teeth, and shook her head.

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

The waiter smiled her back and walked away, she rolled her eyes under the sunglasses. She ran a hand through her black hair with shades of red in some strands and dropped her eyes back to the newspaper. She wondered why the waiter wouldn't leave her alone. Men used to look at her, because of her appearance, her hair and her dress drew attention, women looked at her too. That didn't bother her. But to interrupt her Coke before entering to her class, it did. It was her time of peace, before the roar of the crowd. Four year old children could be really loud when they proposed to.

The waiter kept looking at her, though she couldn't see him. The sun stole red flashes from her long wavy hair, with lots of volume. Her mouth was large, full, maroon painted lips, and although she wasn't tall, she was voluptuous, full of impossible curves with a narrow waist. She wore an open black coat and underneath, that she kept on because she was sitting on an outside table of the café, a red dress with black dots long to her knees, with a flared skirt and with a V-neck that caused the waiter to go over and over to see if she wanted something else. A black patent leather belt with a silver spider buckle closed around her waist, and she had pale legs crossed at her ankles, with flat shoes, patent leather too, but this time red. In one of her calves, covered by semitransparent tights, she had a tattoo of a girl with her back against a tree. The waiter didn't know what the tattoo was, nor would have recognized the ones he could not see. He had not seen her eyes yet, they were behind large round glasses that made her look like a prettier and Caucasian version of Yoko Ono. Her purse imitated the shape of a mouth, red lips closed with a zip between them.

The waiter stiffened when he saw a figure running on the opposite side of the street, across the road at high speed, the cars had to brake to avoid running over that little person. The little girl ran to the woman in red, and at that time someone called him from inside the cafeteria and he turned away. Berenice was thinking about Colin, one of his students who had problems at home, when a soft voice pulled her from his thoughts.

"Miss." She said, and Berenice raised her head to meet a round and pale face, with big blue eyes and blond matted hair. She was a girl of about six years, and her face was vaguely familiar to her. Her eyes were glazed, and you could tell she was trying not to cry. Her blue dress had some dark spots. Berenice took off her sunglasses with a frown and leaned toward the girl.

"Is that blood?" She asked, placing her hands on the shoulders of the child.

"Miss, can you help me? I am very hungry."

Berenice blinked several times and swallowed.

"Sit down, sweetie." She said, turning her torso to look for the waiter. When the boy went out, Berenice ordered another Coke and a sandwich. They were outdoors and even it was cold, it was a sunny day, one of the few they enjoyed every year.

"Thank you." The girl said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"My name is Berenice." She said. The girl half smiled.

"What a name."

Berenice nodded.

"Yes, it is very weird. What's your name?" Berenice said. "Where are your parents?"

The girl pouted and her lower lip began to tremble, her eyes filled with tears. Berenice's heart was pounding; she knew that something serious had happened to this child.

"I don't know." The girl whimpered. "I don't know where I am."

Berenice smiled warmly.

"Oh, I see. You're lost. Don't worry, as soon as you finish the sandwich we'll go get the police and they will bring you to your parents."

The waiter brought the order and left quietly. The girl began to eat hungrily. Berenice hadn't that story clear; the girl should have been lost for a long time for looking that way. Her eyes wandered all over her, from her dirty hands to the table, where they found the newspaper. The wind was moving the pages, and Berenice slammed her hand against the newspaper to stop them, the little girl jumped in surprise.

"Sorry." Berenice whispered, grabbing the newspaper and moving her fingers a couple of pages back, to the image that had caught her attention. In it, a girl smiled broadly, two front teeth missing, making her smile even lovelier than it already was. She had blond hair, thin and straight in two braids and her eyes shone with joy. Beside her, a replica of the girl, just ten years older, also smiling, blond hair fell loose around her shoulders, her blue eyes almost closed because of the big smile. Berenice's eyes moved down, the words that accompanied the photo:

**_GINGER AND LESLIE HARRIS STILL MISSING_**

**_The six year old girl from Denver, Ginger Harris, remains missing with her teen sister Leslie, 16. Both disappeared on Dec. 15, and three weeks later, Denver police have not got any clue. The FBI has joined the case, under the assumption that the author of the kidnapping could be the called "_****Crawler****_", already famous for his kidnapping and murder of couples of sisters, always composed of a child and a teenager. Although there is no evidence linking the murderer with the kidnapping, the FBI believes it is potentially suspicious, and that gives a margin of one month for finding the bodies. Three weeks after their disappearance, time runs against the girls. The hearts of Americans…_**

Berenice stopped reading and looked up at the girl, who was eating in silence.

"Ginger?" She whispered, and the girl raised her wide open blue eyes to her. "Ginger, many people are looking for you."

The girl nodded, chewing slowly.

"Where is your sister? How did you come to Seattle?"

The girl swallowed.

"He told me to come to talk to you."

The blood drained from her face while Berenice threw her shoulders back and looked around, turning her head frantically from side to side, looking for someone, anyone, who was observing her, who seems suspect, who was accompanied with a blonde teen. She found nothing, but she stood up.

"Ginger, dear, come with me, give me your hand."

The girl obeyed and grabbed her hand, finishing the sandwich. Berenice left the money under the sandwich's plate and slung her purse over her shoulder, putting her sunglasses on again. She swallowed and it hurt, her throat seemed to be closed, refusing to let anything pass through. Her heart was pounding in her throat, pounding in her ears, hitting her ribs. The little hand holding hers was sweating, she hurried to follow the great strides of Berenice. _The subway_, she thought, _once inside it he couldn't follow us. Once inside I'll ask where the police station is. _

She felt cold sweat forming on her neck as she turned the corner.

"Ginger, honey, this man who has told you to come and talk to me, is the same one your sister and you have been the last few weeks with?" she asked, realizing that the girl must be so scared as she was, and possibly more confused. The girl was breathing hard, trying to keep up, while Berenice pulled her hand.

"Yes. Leslie's still with him. She was asleep when we left."

_Oh, oh_. That didn't seem a good thing.

"How was he? Was he nice to you?"

Ginger shrugged.

"He wasn't bad with me. Although he barely gave us food. But he was very bad with Leslie. Very, very bad."

Berenice sighed slowly. She had read other articles that talked about _The Crawler_. He kidnapped a little girl and a teen, and the older always showed signs of sexual violence, but the younger didn't. And the older girl always was dead for a longer time than the little one when they found them. Berenice couldn't help wondering why the kidnapper had let the girl go, and why he had sent her to talk to her.

"Well, baby, now it's all over. With me you'll be safe."

"Really?" Ginger said, and the lump in her throat was so obvious that Berenice had to hold back tears.

"Yes, Ginger."

"Okay." the girl said with a small voice.

Suddenly, someone grabbed Berenice's arm firmly and she stifled a scream, turning her head towards the stranger. He was young, tall, skinny, thin face and slight stubble, the brown hair above his shoulders was tousled. He looked at her with dilated big brown eyes.

"FBI." The boy said as she tried to get rid of his grip, containing a scream, and he dropped a little his hand until his arm entwined with hers, as if they knew each other of a lifetime. "Act normal." He whispered, looking at her with a fake smile.

Berenice looked down at Ginger, who shook her head. The boy wasn't the kidnapper. Berenice sought eagerly the agent's hand, and squeezed it hard, trembling. She wasn't alone. And possibly the young man was armed. The boy squeezed her back.

"I'll make you a summary." He said. "We are pursuing a kidnapper…"

"That took the girl and her sister, yes." Berenice said, and the agent looked at her with raised eyebrows, surprised that the woman knew the situation of the kid. "He asked the girl to come and talk to me. I was taking her to the subway to get to the police station."

The FBI agent nodded, stunned by the new information. This was no time to think, though it was hard to him to stop reflecting about the unusual data he just received. He looked to his left and saw one of his companions resting against a wall. At the time he saw him moving his lips, a voice sounded in his ear.

"Nobody follows you, Reid. Keep walking, the Unsub will appear. We got you covered." The African American mansaid from the other side of the street, directly to his earpiece. The boy nodded slightly, and Berenice, who had followed his gaze, whispered:

"There are more agents?"

He nodded.

"All over the street. Someone called the police because the girl had been seen a couple of blocks from here. We thought she would be alone, and that the Unsub would come to get her back. Truly, we didn't expect the girl was accompanied."

Berenice shrugged, mentally beating her head for not calling the police when she recognized the girl, instead of taking her by the hand through Seattle. The boy's hand gave her another squeeze undoubtedly noticing her nervousness and restlessness.

"I don't know how I've been so stupid. I didn't even think about calling the police."

The agent looked around, trying to act casually, but noticing anything suspicious.

"Don't beat yourself up. Not everyone reacts well under pressure. In addition, you're helping us to…"

The boy's voice trailed off and she looked at him, noticing his frown. In his ear a female voice shouted: "Behind you! He got a gun!"

The agent pulled Berenice, and she pulled the girl, to put them behind him while a bullet blew in the air and touched his side, piercing his shirt and causing a severe pain. He winced, but the sharp cry after him was what prompted him to pull the trigger to the man who had fired. He was wearing a black mask and was dressed all in black, the agent's bullet went near his shoulder and the shouting began.

"FBI, put the gun down!" Several voices said at once, his teammates ran toward the Unsub, who looked around and ran, the African American man, a black-haired man and a brunette woman went after him. The boy dropped down on one knee, but he turned to the woman, who protected the sobbing girl, surrounding her with her whole body. The young man put a hand on her back and saw a bleeding wound in the side of the woman.

"Are you okay?" He said, pulling out his phone and dialing the emergency number.  
The girl raised her head and looked at him, her green eyes were wide, her sunglasses were broken on the floor.

"Yes." she whispered, her voice muffled.

"Send an ambulance to Union Street, Seattle, there's a victim of a shooting." The boy paused before adding: "I am an FBI agent, come now." He ended, and hung up. "Sorry." He said.

She shook her head.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" The woman said, a grin spreading across her face although the pain she was feeling on her side. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That was awesome! You saved my life!" She looked at Ginger for a second and then looked back at the boy. "You have saved our lives."

He smiled, feeling a little awkward.

"That's incorrect." He said, looking at the girl's wound carefully, checking that it wasn't deep. "You have saved Ginger's life."

Berenice smiled at hearing him say the name of the girl.

"What's your name?" A soft voice said beside her. The little girl was looking at the agent with tears streaming down her face. The boy hesitated before answering:

"Oh, ah… I'm Spencer." He cleared his throat. "Dr. Spencer Reid."


	2. Chapter 2: Bewilderment in the FBI

**_AN: _**_Chapter 2, everybody! I'm really happy for the first chapter's follows and favorites, thank you all! Just for you to know, I've changed some of the usual protocol the BAU follows (just a little, a very tiny little) for the better developing of the story, for example, the apparition of beautiful Penelope with the rest of the team, just because I wanted her to be there… I'm sure some of you will love her presence too! Thank you again!_

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_"Every desire has an object and it is always dark. There are no such things as innocent desires." _- Luis Buñuel.

**_Chapter 2: Bewilderment in the FBI_**

Berenice grimaced as the paramedic put a bandage on the wound on her side. It was going to leave a quite large scar, but she didn't dislike the idea of having a mark that would remind her that day. She was sitting in the back of the ambulance, and they had given a blanket to her which she had laid aside. For some strange reason, she wasn't cold, though they were in Seattle and it was January. She had explained to an agent who had introduced himself as David Rossi all the events of the afternoon, after calling to the school to warn that she wasn't going to work that day. She was a substitute, and it wasn't clear if that could mean losing her job, and she vaguely wondered if the FBI gave absence notes. Ginger hadn't separated from her at any time, even while they were healing her, and she had refused to talk to anybody else. Dr. Reid was gone right after a paramedic put a bandage on his wound, and his teammates came and said they had lost the Unsub, and now she was seeing him talking on the phone in the distance.

A very pretty blonde woman approached them, and Ginger pressed herself closer to her side. Berenice was prepared for more questions.

"Hi, I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau." She introduced herself with a warm smile.

"Berenice Baker." She said, reaching out and shaking the blonde woman's hand.

"You were very brave today, Berenice." Her eyes moved toward the little girl. "And you too, Ginger."

The girl buried her face in Berenice's hair, and she looked at Agent Jareau apologetically. The blonde woman shrugged and Dr. Reid came, placing his hand on the shoulder of his companion. Berenice grinned at the boy.

"Dr. Reid! Look, Ginger, Dr. Reid's here."

The girl moved a little her head between Berenice's hair and looked at the boy's face; he smiled feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Hello." He said. "Uh… the truth is I haven't heard your name yet."

"Berenice." She said.

"Oh." Reid said, approaching, and the girl moved away from Berenice a little more, until she was completely uncovered. "There's a story by Edgar Allan Poe…"

"I know." She said, nodding. "My parents gave me the name of that story. I'm still grateful that I wasn't called Ulalume…"

Reid chuckled at the joke.

"Oh, jokes about Edgar Allan Poe." A handsome Afro-American man said, powerfully built and very tall. Berenice and Reid looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You must be the only two people who can make a joke about that topic." Approaching Reid, he added with an almost inaudible whisper: "Marry her."

Reid looked down as he felt himself blushing, and cleared his throat.

"Agent Derek Morgan." The man said, extending his hand to her. Ginger jumped up and hid behind her again.

"Berenice Baker." She said, shaking it.

Morgan turned to Reid.

"Can't you make any jokes about her last name?"

Reid raised a finger.

"Actually, it's well known that Baker Street…"

"It's Sherlock Holmes' street." Berenice completed, and Reid waved a hand towards her, telling Morgan that it was something that everyone knew. The agent rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"And it's funny," Reid continued "because Arthur Conan Doyle is considered the successor of Edgar Allan Poe, as he was the main creator of the Crime Novel."

JJ and Morgan exchanged a look of understanding, but Berenice raised her eyebrows.

"Really?" She asked.

Reid smiled, glad that someone felt interested for once. Morgan was trying to hold back a smile as harder as he could.

"Yes, indeed, _The Murders in the Rue Morgue _and The Purloined Letter have a pattern that Doyle continued. Detective Dupin was a clear inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes."

"And Agatha Christie? My mother loves her." Berenice asked curiously.

"Don't encourage him…" Morgan whispered, but Reid didn't hear him.

"Yes, Poirot is inspired in Dupin too. Agatha Christie is posterior, and it's also considered that some of her characters are clearly inspired by Doyle, and by extension by Poe. In fact, most of the Anglo-Saxon writers were inspired by them."

Berenice looked at him with her mouth slightly ajar, nodding.

"It's fascinating."

"Marry her now." Morgan said between coughs, and Reid became visibly red, but Berenice didn't notice the exchange between the two friends.

"How do you know all those things? You studied English Literature at college or something?"

"Oh," A woman with straight black hair until her shoulders said. "Spencer is a genius. Didn't he tell you? He loves to say it."

"I do not love saying it; I only state it as a fact when someone asks me." Reid said, shrugging.

"A genius? What do you mean?" Berenice said, raising an eyebrow.

"Like a walking talking Wikipedia." JJ said.

Berenice raised both eyebrows.

"Hardcore." She said, nodding.

Morgan laughed, and Berenice felt how Ginger's grip became stronger as Agent Rossi approached again, accompanied by a tall, serious man, looking like someone important.

"Agent Emily Prentiss." The brunette woman said and Berenice shook her hand and repeated for the umpteenth time that day:

"Berenice Baker."

"Agent Aaron Hotchner." The serious man said when he arrived to Berenice, shaking her hand. He turned to the others. "Let's go to the police station, we have to clear the street."

All of them said their goodbyes to Berenice with a nod and headed to the car.

"You two come with me." Morgan said, winking at Berenice as he stretched his hand to help her off the ambulance. Ginger shook her head and reached out, grabbing Reid's shirt and causing the boy to grimace, because of the pressure on the wound. Reid and Morgan exchanged a look, and then they looked at Berenice, who rolled her eyes and ducked.

"Ginger, honey, what's wrong?" She said, with her loveliest smile.

The girl looked up.

"I don't want us to be alone with him." She said, and Berenice knew she meant Agent Morgan.

"He's not going to do nothing to us; he's Agent Derek Morgan, from the FBI. He's Dr. Reid's friend, you know?"

The girl looked up at the guy whose shirt she was still holding, who ran his hand through his tousled hair.

"Friend of yours?" She asked and Berenice smiled. It was the first time since ambulances and journalists had begun arriving that Ginger had spoken to anyone but her.

"Uh… yes, yes, he's my friend." Reid said, and crouched in front of her. "But if you want I can go with you in the car."

The girl looked at Berenice, who nodded encouragingly. Ginger nodded, and they headed to the car.

* * *

Berenice looked at the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI without understanding a word of what they were saying. Not that she had to understand it, of course. She was there just because they didn't want anyone to make questions at her, to keep an eye on her all the time.

"When's Garcia gonna come here?" Agent Prentiss asked.

"Any time." Morgan said. "We'll need her now that the Unsub has changed his methodology. Any help will be welcomed."

"Changed his methodology?" Berenice said, and all eyes turned to her. They had taken Ginger (after many tears and prayers and supplications to Berenice to go with her) to examine her and Berenice felt strange without the girl clinging to her side. Now the wound hurt more.

"This man used to kidnap couples of sisters; we think he uses the smaller to retain the older, of who he abuses until she surrenders." Prentiss said.

"Surrenders?" Berenice asked, feeling very confused.

"Yes, he's a predatory psychopath that enjoys with suffering." Morgan said. "It amuses him that they oppose him, subduing someone weaker is his main entertainment. Sexual assault is just part of the process."

"When the victim realizes that fighting is not worth it and gives up, submitting to the will and wishes of the Unsub, he loses interest and kills her." JJ ended.

Berenice frowned, assimilating it.

"And what… what he does with the younger sister?"

There was a pause until Rossi said: "When she's not helpful because he doesn't need her anymore, he let her starve to death."

Berenice covered her mouth with her hand in horror. What kind of heartless being would do that?

"But to send the girl to talk to someone is an alteration of his common behavioral." Hotchner said. "Why did he something like that?"

"Perhaps he established a bond with this child?" Morgan said. "He usually gets rid of them before."

Reid shook his head.

"No, he sent Ginger expressly to talk to Berenice. He wanted something…" suddenly, Reid looked up from the file he was eyeing and opened his mouth.

"What?" Morgan and JJ said at once.

"What if he hadn't changed his MO?" Reid said, approaching to the board and turning it over, several pictures of dead girls were there and Berenice turned her view away. "What if after killing the older sister he utilized the child to capture another girl, using her as bait?"

Morgan nodded.

"Using the compassion of the girls to get another victim, choosing her."

"After that, he leaves the kid with her sister and moves with the new victim, leaving elsewhere." Reid said.

"That's why the cases are not linked." Prentiss whispered.

Reid nodded and Berenice opened her eyes widely. Then that psychopath was going for her? Ginger was just a way to attract her?

"We must find out." Hotchner said. "When Garcia arrives, she has to focus on it."

"Did you call the lamp genie?" A blonde woman said, wearing a dress that looked made from pieces of other dresses, bright purple lipstick and a pencil with a pink pompom on the end. Her glasses were violet and she moved giving small steps on high heels of the same color. "Cause your desires just came true."

Berenice liked her from the moment she stepped through the door.

"Baby girl, we need you to get to work right away." Morgan said as she pulled a pair of laptops from her bag and placed them on the table.

"I'm almost there, Chocolate Thunder." She said, and her eyes met Berenice's. "Who is this poppy?" She said, moving her hand to her. "I'm Penelope Garcia, and your purse is lovely."

Berenice shook her hand, looking at her purse, forgetting which one she was carrying, and then back to Garcia.

"Berenice Baker."

Garcia raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, so you're the Superwoman Reid told me about. I've researched, sweetie, and I really like you. Your tumblr is flawless."

Berenice opened her mouth without knowing what to say.

"Thank you." She finally said. "Yes, I'm the Superwoman who has been shot." She looked at Reid from one of Garcia's sides; he was looking everywhere but at her. What would have he told her over the phone?

"Oh, now you have a war wound." She said, turning around and sitting in front of her laptops. "Maybe it hurts when it's going to rain and everything."

Berenice giggled and moved her legs up the sofa, after taking off her shoes. It was only seven in the afternoon, but she was exhausted, physically and psychologically.

"Search for missing women who disappeared about the same time the bodies of _The Crawler_ were found. In the same area." Hotchner said, and Berenice marveled at how serious and authoritarian the man was.

"Aye." Garcia said, and started typing frantically, while the others were talking.

"If Reid's right, we have ruined one of his abductions." Prentiss said. "To our knowledge, this hasn't happened before. How will he react?"

"Got it." Garcia said. "Yes, yes, you're right. On all occasions a girl of about 20 years was gone between three days and a week before we found the bodies of the sisters. I send 'em to ya."

Everyone started to look their tablets as they received the photos of the victims, and then they looked at Berenice.

"All of them were found dead, strangled, with signs of sexual brutality."

"Brutality?" Berenice whispered. Garcia nodded.

"Yes, the wounds are quite unpleasant. Don't look at it, do like me and think of a happy place."

"All of them follow the same profile." Morgan said, frowning a bit.

"Profile?" Berenice asked, feeling stupid. She was sitting there, asking questions and clogging. She wondered why they didn't kick her out. Reid cleared his throat.

"They're all the same age, brunette, attractive, and dressed in a flashy or strange way. Girls who stood out."

Berenice frowned, hugging her torso with her arms.

"I'm all that?"

Morgan and Reid exchanged a look, but it was Garcia who answered.

"I'm afraid so, cutie. You really attract attention, with that awesome dress of yours."

Berenice felt how she flushed and looked down.

"In that case, what will the Unsub do now?" Rossi said.

"Seek another pair of sisters." Morgan said with a shrug. Reid and JJ looked each other, he wrinkled his nose.

"I don't think so." JJ said.

"He's a Crawler. He chooses a victim and waits for the right time to get her." Reid said. "We have delayed him and that has made him become imprudent."

"Ginger." Berenice said in a whisper. Everyone looked at her with the question embodied in their faces. "He was aiming her when he fired. He didn't point to Dr. Reid, or to me. He aimed low."

Everyone looked at each other, concern visible on their faces.

"What?" Garcia whispered.

"Possibly," Reid said "Unsub's next move will be to finish what he started."

Berenice swallowed. _No, I can't understand them well…_

"What do you mean?" she said in a low voice.

Prentiss looked at her, pursing her lips.

"He'll try again what we frustrated. He'll try to kill Ginger and capture you."

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**_AN2:_**_ Hope you liked Chapter 2! Just for you to know, Berenice's name comes from a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, as she and Reid said, called just _'Berenice'. _It's a wonderful, dark story, and you should totally read it, it treats happy topics like being buried alive, losing the woman you love, mental illnesses… Just as optimistic as every Poe story, haha. Anyway is a wonderful story, and really short, and in its time it awoke a lot of controversy, because everyone thought it was too violent (I love Poe, did you notice?). Just a curious fact about my OC I thought you may want to know. Chapter 3 next week! Thank you for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3: Victims

**_AN: _**_Wow, I'm so grateful for all the follows and the favorites! You are awesome, my lovely readers!_

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"_Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars_." -Khalil Gibran

**_Chapter 3: Victims_**

Reid returned to the meeting room with a coffee in his hand and rubbing his eyes. He was tired, sleepy and the contact lenses were starting to bother him, but he knew the night wasn't over yet. Honestly, he had never been in that position: knowing who would be the next victim of the Unsub, but not knowing when he would attack. She couldn't go into witness protection; she wasn't a witness, but a target. Berenice had panicked as she understood what they were saying, not that Reid or any of the others could blame her. They just said that there was someone out there who was looking for her, only her, to kidnap her, mistreat her, rape her and murder her. Reid felt a chill down his spine; he couldn't imagine what it must have been like to receive all that information. She had cried, cursed and hadn't stopped walking up and down, she had refused to believe it and Reid saw how the girl passed by the five states of grief. She hadn't got to acceptance until the coroner arrived with the child. Reid had seen Garcia put a hand over her heart when she witnessed a complete change in Berenice's face, to anguish, fear and frustration to quiet serenity. She had smiled and kneeled in front of Ginger, who had thrown her arms around her. The girl had clearly taken Berenice as a protector model. Someway, Ginger had taken Reid as protector as well, although this had been by chance, because it was Berenice who had taken him as a protector. He wasn't used to that, at first glance, Morgan seemed more able to protect someone than him, but on the occasions that it happened, he always felt very satisfied. This time, it wasn't like that. Although he liked how the girl looked at him as she trusted him, he feared disappointing her, feared that something that he couldn't avoid happened, it floated around him like a halo of impotence.

Berenice and the girl slept now on the couch in the break room, Reid came from there. The kid fell asleep in the arms of the girl, who looked like another person after removing the dress, the makeup and with the lustrous black hair collected in a messy bun. The police had given her clothes and she was now wearing gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt of the same color that said _Seattle Police Department_.

"Looks like I just got out of jail." She had said when she left the bathroom after changing her clothes. She was prettier with her face washed, at Reid's discretion. Her eyes, though tired, were more vivid, and even her lips looked bigger. Without all the hair around her face, it revealed a long, thin neck, and a tattoo behind her ear, a triangle with a circle inside it, a line dividing the figure in two. Although Reid recognized the figure, he said nothing.

"Don't worry; it seems more like you are training to be a cop." He had answered. The child was resting on his lap, her hair damp from the shower that they gave her in the medical was wetting his pants, but he didn't care. Now the girl was wearing other clothes, a green and blue dress that some policeman had bought to her. Reid had been surprised by that closeness, but it was definitely beneficial for Ginger. Berenice rolled her eyes and lay down on the other couch, Ginger hurried to join her.

"I don't know which is worse." Berenice said, and Reid smiled a little, looking down. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean… is that you guys aren't cops, I mean…"

"I know what you mean." Reid said, leaning back on the couch and crossing his legs. Berenice could see he was wearing bright green socks that didn't fit with anything he wore. In fact, when she looked, she saw the other sock was red. She couldn't help but smile. No doubt this Spencer Reid guy was, at least, strange.

They stared at each other for a few seconds until Reid broke eye contact to look at a speck of dust on his pants that certainly was much more interesting than Berenice. By far. She raised her eyebrows at the obvious nervousness of him, and she could feel that this situation wasn't a habitual for the unit. Ginger breathed deeply against her, curled.

"What will happen to us now?" She asked in a whisper, Reid's attention immediately turned to her. The Doctor pursed his lips for a moment, and then he sighed.

"I couldn't tell you." He finally answered. "We should improve the profile, to know what the priorities of the Unsub are."

"Ginger or me." Berenice specified. Reid nodded.

"That's right. In principle, the girl's parents arrive tomorrow. We must look also for Leslie, but she'll be probably dead." Berenice appreciated his sincerity even though she couldn't help wrinkling her nose to his words. "They must stay in Seattle for a while. And you'll go home, I guess, and we'll put a surveillance unit in front of your door."

"And I will live a normal life?"

Reid grimaced.

"There are many things to specify yet. Tomorrow I'll tell you in more detail. Now sleep. It is shown that sleeping after a hard day…"

"I don't want cops at my door." Berenice interrupted. "No Seattle police. I want you."

Reid raised his eyebrows.

"That's not our job, Berenice. Our task is to find the attacker, not to protect…" Reid's voice trailed off as tears began to roll down Berenice's face. He hated to see women crying, and in his job he had to see them often. It was a very irrational trend, he knew it, but he couldn't help it. Seeing a girl crying made him nervous and worried, plus it saddened him.

"Every… every face… I see…" The girl said between sobs. Reid got up from the couch and walked over to her, kneeling in front of her face. "Every man… I think… it could be… be him. I can't trust them, Dr. Reid."

Reid raised his hand and placed it on the girl's hair, he knew that physical contact used to reassure people in that state.

"You can call me just Reid. Or Spencer." He said with a smile, which she returned. "And you don't need to be afraid, the police…"

"I can't help it." Wow, this girl had a special liking for interrupting him. Reid realized it wouldn't be possible to reason with her and sighed.

"I'll take care of everything." He said, returning to the protector role. "But now go to sleep."

She glanced at him among her eyelashes, green bright eyes shone with tears, but she nodded. He returned to his couch and opened the book he was reading as he listened to her breathing settling down. He thought she was asleep, when she said in a whisper:

"Thank you, Dr. Reid."

He couldn't help smiling. He liked the girl; it was _something_ about her… maybe it was the little innocent glint in her eyes, how she flushed but she didn't hide way when she did, even how she interrupted him… Reid couldn't exactly tell what it was, but she seemed adorable to him, besides she was beautiful. But of course, he knew it was going to be just a thought. Women didn't use to like him, much less women like Berenice. It was something he had accepted over the years and, at that time, he didn't care much about it. He had lived a life without a girlfriend, so it couldn't be that bad not having one in the rest of life he had left, thinking logically. _How inappropriate_, he thought as he walked to the meeting room, where all the team was reunited, _the life of a girl in danger and you thinking about how beautiful she is._

"Handsome! Oh, what a face." Garcia said as he entered.

"That's a contradiction." Reid said as he sat on his site.

"Are they okay?" Hotch said with a frown. Reid asked himself if he ever had seen him smile in a time that he wasn't with his son, Jack, or even if he had ever seen him blinking.

"The child's still the same, can't move away from Berenice." Reid sighed and sipped his coffee. "And _she_… well, she's very scared and wants to know what we're going to do. How are we going to protect them… well, you can imagine."

The others nodded, understanding what Reid meant. Garcia was the one who seemed the most affected, as always.

"Poor thing…" she said. "Have you seen how she has become 'Mom of the year' when Ginger entered?"

"It's the maternal instinct." Prentiss said. "Let's see, what things have the victims in common? The ones we just discovered."

Garcia started typing and sent them all the case files of the victims to their iPads.

"You got 'em on the screen, Doc." Garcia said, pointing at the big screen of the room with her head. "In some minutes I'll have them printed for you, lil' technophobe."

"Thanks." Reid said, as he looked at the pictures and data of the girls that were shown on the screen.

"They are all pretty." Morgan said. "Long dark hair, big green eyes…"

"Yes, it's clear that the physical resemblance is there." JJ confirmed.

"But what else?" Rossi said. "Of the five victims, one was married, another was single and lived with her parents, two of them shared a flat with friends and the last one was a single mother. Could hardly be more eclectic at choosing them."

"And Berenice?" Prentiss said. Garcia also sent information of the girl and said:

"I gotta say she's a normal girl. It's great to see that people like this still exist. Normal family, an older brother, Paul… She got good grades on high school, and won some art contests with her paintings. She lives alone in an apartment near Freeway Park. She's 23, which fits, the victims are between 20 and 25… what else… well, for what I've found on her Facebook, she doesn't have many friends, it doesn't even reach 100, and has no boyfriend. The people she talks the most with are this Kat Britton girl, to whom she speaks almost daily by phone bills and… Jane Baker. She's her cousin, and she leaves a message a week or so to her, though they almost never speak on the phone. She's a relatively lonely girl."

"Another thing that they haven't in common." Morgan said. "Anna Clark, the first victim, was married to her high school sweetheart and was very active in social networks, very popular, with many friends, almost 800 on Facebook."

"Yes." Reid said, squinting as he looked at the big screen. "But Rachel Taylor and Irene McCarthy, one of them lived with their parents and the other had a three year old child… they were also quite lonely. Irene didn't even have a Facebook account."

Everyone stared in silence at the information.

"Well, that doesn't help us." Hotch said. "Now, what did they do?"

"Nuh-huh." Garcia denied with a sound in her throat. "Anna Clark was a nurse, Rachel Taylor worked in a library, Lillian Martin was a psychologist, Holly Banks worked as an instructor in the dining hall of a school, and Irene McCarthy wasn't working."

Emily Prentiss rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Could they be more different?"

"And Berenice?" Morgan said.

"She teaches preschool." JJ said. "Four year old children."

Reid raised his eyebrows.

"It was a good choice if you're looking for someone to help a lost child. Who could be better than a teacher?"

Morgan nodded, shrugging his shoulders.

"A nurse, a psychologist or a mother wouldn't be a bad choice either."

Prentiss opened her mouth.

"Sure! Children! That's the link. All of them worked with children."

"Yeah, you're right." Garcia said. "Lillian was a child psychologist, and Anna worked at the Pediatrics' floor. Rachel was the librarian of the Children's area."

JJ nodded, with a glint of understanding in her eyes.

"So this is how he chooses them. He looks for girls who work with children to ensure that they will know how to treat the child when she asks for help. To ensure that they will help her."

"That means that the Unsub has been near Berenice before." Reid said.

"He may have been a long time spying her. He hadn't been reckless until now." Prentiss said.

"That explains why he got so angry when Reid got in his way." Hotch said. "And shot in public. He had wanted her for a long time."

"There you go." Garcia said as all the papers got off the printer and she passed them to Reid. Reid looked down at the first page, on which Berenice's information was. Her Facebook profile photo, in which she was smirking with her hand recreating the typical greeting from _Star Trek_, was watching him from the paper. The bright pink lipstick looked really great on her, and her green eyes gleamed shrewdly towards the camera. She wore a red wool hat falling to a side of her head. He wondered if the Unsub had looked at the same picture, and had thought of her…

"Reid, do you agree?" Hotch said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What?" He said, looking up.

"I said we would have to go tomorrow to Berenice's apartment to search for evidences, it's possible that the Unsub has been there. You and Morgan will go."

Reid nodded.

"I think we should talk to the girl." JJ said. "If the Unsub has been watching Berenice, it's possible that he had carried Ginger with him. Perhaps she can provide us some relevant information."

Reid grimaced.

"I don't think she's gonna talk to anyone in the unit."

Rossi scratched his chin.

"You could take Berenice and Ginger with you, JJ, you can join them. Wait in the car with the two girls and try to get some information with Berenice's help."

"Do you think she'll agree?" Garcia said. "I don't know if she'll want to force this girl to remember everything bad that has happened…"

Reid shook his head.

"She will, for sure. She just wants to get back to normal life as soon as possible."

Morgan sighed.

"I don't know how that could happen soon. We could put a few cars outside her home as surveillance…"

"She wants us to protect her." Reid said, and everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"That's not our job." Hotchner said, putting some papers in a folder, the meeting was ending. "We will ensure that her apartment is secure and we will put up a surveillance unit. In the afternoon I want you all here again to continue with the cases of the five girls. Now we'll rest, it's been a long day."

Morgan patted Reid's back as he stood up and JJ gave him a half smile of compassion. Reid sighed and stood up, putting the file in his messenger bag. He glanced at the two policemen guarding the door, behind which Berenice and Ginger slept. The sleepy sigh of Berenice went to his memory. _Thank you, Dr. Reid_. He was to make sure that nothing will happen to this girl. He would convince the others to protect her themselves. He'll think of something, no matter how difficult it was. At the end of the day, he was a genius, wasn't he?


	4. Chapter 4: Stalked

_"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse." _- George Washington.

**_Chapter 4: Stalked_**

"Let me see if I understand it… Oh, thank you, Reid." Berenice said, taking the cup of coffee that Reid was giving to her. She smiled in the most charming way she could, and Reid nodded and sat down without saying anything, a little embarrassed. "Let's see if I understand it, you want me to try… you want Ginger to tell me about what happened to them with that psycho-killer, right?"

JJ half-smiled, she couldn't help but finding funny the way that girl talked. Reid smiled too, and Morgan chuckled.

"Mainly we want her to tell us where they've been, what they have done, if she had seen you before…" Agent Jareau said.

"Prentiss, Rossi and Hotch have gone to the forest to look for the hut the girl talked you about, but the forest is awfully large and the descriptions were vague. Are you sure she didn't tell you anything else?" Morgan said.

Berenice shook her head, taking a sip of coffee. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, God, Reid, you read my mind? This coffee is just as I like it… Sorry, no, she said nothing else." Berenice remembered the conversation she had with the child earlier that morning. "She said they were in a wooden house and there were many trees around them and they couldn't hear any cars or people talking, but they heard many birds singing." She was listing the data counting with her fingers, staring at the ceiling. "Inside there were stuffed animals, but they were in the basement, the floor was made of dirt and there were two mattresses. When the… How do you call him?"

Reid cleared his throat.

"Uh, Unsub."

"Yeah, _Unsub_, I love it. Well, when the Unsub attacked her sister he took her upstairs, and she could hear her…" Berenice sighed. "Her cries from the basement."

JJ patted her knee in sympathy. She was the one who was with the families of the victims, and she knew how who wasn't used to be in that kind of situations reacted. Although it was clear that Berenice was affected, she had overcome surprisingly to the facts, thinking clearly and even making jokes. You could tell she was a really brave girl. It was impossible not to like her, under the circumstances.

"What we want," Reid said "is that Ginger give us some information of the Unsub that we ignore. Apparently, he chooses his victims, the ones after the sisters, for their workplace and their physique. All of them worked with children, and…"

Berenice raised her hands, interrupting him. Reid bit his lip. "Let's see, then this _Nightcrawler_ guy…"

"Just _Crawler_." Reid said, smiling at the reference.

"Well, whatever, then this is how _The Crawler_ works: he kidnaps a pair of sisters, a girl and a teenager and abuses of the teen until she ceases to resist and then he kills her and takes the child to look for a young woman, brunette and extravagant who works with children. He sends the kid to attract the attention of the girl and when he succeeds, he kidnaps her. And the little girl…"

"He murders her." Reid said, nodding to her resume. "In fact, he let her starve, beside the body of her sister."

"What does he do with his new acquisition?" Berenice asked, swallowing, and dreading the answer.

"Well, the coroner determined that according to their disappearance date and the date of the death they were with the Unsub from two weeks to a month and a half." Reid said. "It's possible that he follows the same pattern as with the older sister, abusing her until the victim adapted to it and she plays along, probably thinking it will help her. But then the Unsub loses interest in the victim and kills her."

Berenice swallowed.

"How does he kill them?"

Reid scratched his nose and coughed, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to have this conversation with her.

"He strangles them." Morgan finally answered. "He's also a sadist; probably he violated them as they died."

Berenice buried her face in her hands. The thought of if that was what was coming to her floated in her mind, polluting every good feeling in its path.

"So I have to fight, to struggle against him." She whispered. JJ gasped in surprise, but it was Reid who spoke.

"Berenice." He said, and she looked up to hear him say her name. "You don't have to think about that, because it won't happen. That's why we're here for, ok?"

Berenice looked at the big brown eyes of the young Doctor, and it seemed that today the dark circles under his eyes were a little darker than the day before. She wondered how much energy these cases would suck from the body of the man who was in front of her, if he ever got used to seeing dead bodies, to talk about rapists and starving girls. She asked herself if Spencer Reid had a normal life, friends, a girlfriend, if he went out for drinks, if he went to the movies… if he was more than Dr. Spencer Reid from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. Unable to say anything, she just nodded. The situation was the worst of her life, everything around her was crumbling, the important things weren't important anymore, and things of which she never thought about occupied her mind now. Still, she blessed the heaven for that man being there.

* * *

Reid felt a hand on his knee and winced, looking to his right. Berenice looked at him with a frown.

"Are you ok, Reid?" She said. He smiled, and she removed her hand from his leg. Not that he was a big fan of physical contact without warning or without justification, but her touch hadn't minded him at all.

"I'm fine." He replied. "It's just a little headache."

_You just take the prize for this century's understatement, Spencer_, he told himself as he moved his eyes away from Berenice's worried glance and gave a reassuring smile to Ginger, who returned it. He looked out the car's window watching the streets of Seattle passing as a great gray blur. His temples were hammering, it was like something was hitting from inside his head, trying to get out. His heart was beating fast; the headaches had been back and forth for a while, usually in untimely moments. The doctor had said that there was nothing out of the ordinary, and that scared Reid even more. If he had _something _in his brain, it could be treated. But the other option...

"We're here." Morgan said, putting on a pair of blue rubber gloves.

"And I have to wait here while you search my apartment?" Berenice said, surrounding Ginger's back with one arm as she spoke. Reid smiled.

"Let's just take a look."

Berenice's eyes opened wide.

"Oh! Grograman!"

Reid frowned.

"You mean the multicolored lion from _The Neverending Story_?" He said, quite confused. Of all the things that could have come out of her mouth, that name wasn't what Reid expected to hear.

"Yeah, well, no… it's my dog's name. I like to call him Grommy, but his actual name is Grograman. He's alone. I asked my neighbor to take him out last night."

Reid pursed his lips.

"How big is he?"

Berenice smiled.

"He's a Jack Russell. He won't bite you, Dr. Reid."

He nodded and left the car, Morgan beside him.

"What kind of dog's name is Gragoman?" Morgan said as they opened the door of the building where Berenice lived.

"Grograman**.**" Reid corrected. "In _The Neverending Story_, Bastian wishes facing off against an enemy that nobody has ever defeated. He meets Grograman, which is also called The Many Colored Death, a lion that changes his color and no one can approach him; who dwells near him dies burned. Bastian and he become friends, and he discovers that every night, the lion dies, and where during the day there is a desert, by night a forest grow." Reid said, as they climbed the stairs. "So with his desire to confront someone who had never been beaten, he had actually created a good and noble creature doomed to eternal solitude. It's my favorite part of the book." He added, more to himself than to Morgan. The other man shrugged as he put the key in the door lock of Berenice's.

"Where are Toby, Bobby or Spike? Typical dog names."

Reid shrugged.

"Well, she looks like a rather peculiar girl in other ways… that her dog has an original name shouldn't surprise us so much…"

Reid would have said more, but he stopped as they entered the apartment. Definitely she wasn't a normal girl, her apartment wasn't either. Reid opened his mouth as he looked around him; Morgan raised both eyebrows until they almost met his scalp.

A large living room/kitchen with high ceilings lay before them. The walls were painted of red, except in the area surrounding the kitchen, which was tiled in black. Reid started pacing around; it had a large plasma TV with a DVD player, a VHS player and another one (Reid couldn't help smiling), a Laser Disk player. On the wall lay a large shelf full of films, CDs and books, and some pictures here and there on the shelf, on the walls, on the coffee table in front of the dark blue L-shaped sofa. All around the apartment there were little sculptures for all the tastes; it was difficult to believe that the same person had bought them all. In the center was a large round table near the kitchen, but displayed to see the TV screen well, with lots of papers spread over it. Reid ran his fingers through the pages full of children's drawings.

"Reid, what does this all mean?" Morgan said, and Reid turned to see what he meant. His friend looked at the painted red walls, and Reid saw that there were words written in white paint in a beautiful calligraphy. The verses were written in Spanish, scattered here and there. Reid started reading some: _"As long as there are hopes and memories, there will be poetry!", "I am an impossible dream, an empty phantom of mist and light; I am ethereal, I am intangible; I cannot love you.", "For a glance, the world; for a smile, the heavens; for a kiss… I don't know what I would give for a kiss!"_… And it went on and on, spreading across the wall.

"They're…" Reid said, answering Morgan's question. "They are fragments of poems in Castilian, of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. I don't know how many people in Seattle know his work, but I bet not many."

Morgan nodded and went on to something else, but Reid kept reading the walls. He found it fascinating that Berenice had decorated her walls with the words of a Spanish Romantic from the Nineteenth Century. He had never seen an apartment like that one.

"Reid, have you seen this?" Morgan said, and Reid came out of his reverie and approached him, he held a photo. Spencer held his urge to roll his eyes when he saw Derek raised an eyebrow, the picture showed Berenice and two friends in their bikinis, doing the typical pose of _Charlie's Angels_. Well, everyone can have clichés. Berenice was the one in the center, with the round sunglasses that Reid had seen the day before, a bun at the crown throwing red flashes and a red bikini with black ties. They looked like they were her favorite colors. "She has legs up her ears, don't you think?" Morgan said, admiring the picture. Reid frowned. Okay, it was true that the picture was worth admiring for a while, but they weren't there for that. However, Reid kept his eyes directed to the photo and noticed Morgan was right about her legs, she had the longest legs he had ever seen, though she wasn't very tall, the bikini accentuated her generous curves. He directed his eyes to other photos there; Berenice with a group of children in a class, with two old men (grandparents, Reid assumed), more photos with the two girls of the beach, and other people Reid didn't know anything about and in which ones Berenice wasn't present. Family, possibly.

"Who is this girl?" Morgan said, pointing to a photo of a girl of about twelve years old with short disheveled hair, a dental corrector and important protruding ears. "Whoever she is, she surely had a bad time in high school."

Reid looked at the bright green eyes of the girl and raised his eyebrows.

"She's Berenice." He said, noting the picture. Yes, definitely those were her eyes, and those her lips.

Morgan looked at the photo and at another that was there in which she wore a red evening dress, down to her feet with a slit to mid-thigh, her hair pulled to the side of her head, running down her neck. Beside her were a groom and a bride, Reid thought that Berenice should be the typical guest that outshines the bride. Though in the picture she wasn't posing, she was sticking her tongue out to the camera and grabbing one of the bride's legs. It was a funny picture, and probably it held good memories.

"That's what I call a 'productive adolescence'. Improving with age." Morgan said, and they both chuckled and continued looking around. Grograman appeared soon, but he smelled their shoes, let them stroke him and left to lie on the couch.

"I guess he's no watchdog." Reid said, as they continued searching.

"She's into hard rock." Morgan said, examining a shelf full of CDs, while Reid looked another one. "KISS, Iron Maiden, Poison…"

"And The Beatles, Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Queen…" Reid read the titles as he caressed the CDs with his fingers. Morgan nodded.

"Eclectic."

"Indeed." Reid smiled, and continued his search.

The bedroom was much simpler than the rest of the house, and then he realized that it was a guest room, not the girl's bedroom. A single bed, more books (a lot of poetry, Oscar Wilde and the whole Harry Potter saga), a half empty wardrobe and a bedside table.

A couple of hours went by and Reid was beginning to lose hope of finding something when he went to find Morgan to the bathroom.

"You know…" Reid said, but Morgan raised a hand to shut him up, and Reid approached him.

"Look." He said, pointing to the tank. On one side of the tank there was a minimum opening, Reid had to squint. Morgan got up on the toilet and reached for it. Reid felt his heart race when he saw Morgan close his eyes and clench his jaw. He took his hand out, a very small device rested in his hand. A camera.

Reid felt anger boiling inside him. The camera was arranged to record the interior of the shower.

* * *

"Let me see if I understand it correctly, Penelope." Berenice said, sitting at a chair next to the table in her living room, having removed all the drawings of her students. "The cameras were broadcasting a signal to that bastard's computer... from my shower and my closet?"

Garcia's voice growled through the speaker of Morgan's phone. Ginger was half asleep on the couch, and Hotch had joined them after receiving the news of Morgan's discovery. They had ordered a pizza and now they were having a coffee. They were all sitting around the table, Reid and JJ at both sides of Berenice, and Hotchner standing, leaning against the white marble countertop.

"More or less, sweetie." Garcia said. "But not exactly. It's a mobile device connected to an IP address, an address that, of course, is gone."

"The Unsub should've been watching us." Reid said.

"It's possible, yes." Garcia said. "Because I guess he was online at the time. All the recorded images are in an encrypted web, but the direction…"

"Wait, wait…" Berenice said, raising her hands. "In a web page? Does that mean there are videos of me _showering_ floating in the vastness of the Internet?"

Reid grimaced at the thought.

"I'm afraid so, poppy." Garcia said. She seemed to have a fondness for nicknames. "I'll download 'em to check if the Unsub might have seen something momentous to decide to attack, and then I'll take them away."

Berenice noticed how she flushed. She looked at Reid, cheeks rosy.

"It won't be necessary that _all _of you watch the videos, right?"

Reid swallowed.

"No, I think Garcia and Prentiss taking a look will suffice."

Berenice sighed with relief. She knew that in that situation she was being illogical, but she cringed just thinking about the team gathered around a video of her taking a bath. Interestingly, it especially ashamed her to imagine Reid watching it.

"Ok, fine. I'm cool." She sighed, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "And how did he come in? Why didn't he kidnap me then?"

"Surely his level of obsession is higher than we thought. He's been a long time watching you." Morgan said. "Waiting to can't hold his longing before going after you."

Berenice wrinkled her nose.

"Then I guess he wanted the videos exactly for what it seems." She said. Reid nodded.

"Certainly, masturbation would be one of the actions arising from the videos, yes, that's why the cameras were in the shower and in the closet. But he was trying to feed his obsession as well. In fact, he may even kidnap Leslie and Ginger after having noticed you."

"He called her Berenice." A voice said from the couch. Berenice and Reid turned around so abruptly that their faces almost collided, Berenice's hair whipping Spencer's neck.

"Pardon?" Reid said. "What do you mean?"

Ginger's head peered over the back of the sofa, with disheveled blonde hair and sleepy eyes.

"When he took her. He named her Berenice. To Leslie."

Berenice rose with such force that toppled her chair, the others jumped. She went into her room and closed the door, trembling violently. Tears were streaming down her face and sobs threatened to crush her throat. She heard a phone ringing in the distance and thought she didn't want to know anything else, she wanted to stay locked there forever, never seeing Ginger's face again. That girl and her sister had been through hell because of her, because a psychopath was after her.

She didn't know how much time had passed when someone knocked on the door.

"I'm Reid." The boy said softly. She coughed, and he took it as an invitation to enter.

A large double bed with white sheets and metal head illuminated the dark blue walled room. The furniture (the nightstand, the dresser, the chest of drawers and the wardrobe) were black wooded. Above the bed, an imitation of _The Vampire_ by Edvard Munch, decorated the wall.

"Now I don't feel like talking, Reid." Berenice said hoarsely. The boy approached her, kneeling. She was sitting on the bed, and as he knelt before her, he entered on her vision. Berenice couldn't help but stick her eyes on the bright brown ones of the Doctor.

"Why did you run off like that?"

Berenice swallowed.

"It's my fault." She whispered. "Ginger and Leslie, what happened to them is my fault."

"Berenice, don't…" Reid began, but she raised a hand to stop him. Of course.

"He called her Berenice. That _bastard_ watched my videos and then went looking for that girl to rape her pretending she was me. Don't you dare tell me it's not my fault."

Reid swallowed and put his hands on the girl's knees, hesitant. She looked up at him.

"Yes, I dare. He's an unbalanced psychopath with an unhealthy obsession with you. That's not your fault. Like it wasn't other victims' fault. They were that, victims. And so are you."

Berenice began to weep again and she let her head fall forward until it rested on Reid's shoulder.

"I hate being a victim. I hate it."

Reid surrounded Berenice's back with his arms as he noticed how his shirt dampened, as a result of the girl's tears.

"Why have they called for?" Berenice asked in a whisper, her hot breath hit Reid's neck. He vacillated, but he knew he couldn't hide it for long.

"It was Rossi. They found Leslie." He paused. "She's dead."

Berenice dropped to the ground and he held her, tightening his grip as she sobbed loudly against his chest.

* * *

**_AN: _**_This is getting reeeeally bad, isn't it? I'm sorry, but Leslie had to be dead for the better developing of the story. Again, I want to say that if any of you think I should rate it M, don't be shy and let me know. I never really understand all that technologic shit Garcia talks about, but I tried that it made sense… If there's anyone who thinks that I made a mistake or that it couldn't be like that, let me know and I'll change it. Some data for you: if you don't know it, _The Neverending Story _is a wonderful novel written by the brilliant Michael Ende (if you hadn't noticed, I love it), if you are too lazy to read the book (you should totally read it), at least you should watch the movie (the first one). The poems Berenice have written on her apartment walls are all by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, as Reid told you. You can find them in _The Book of Sparrows (El Libro de los Gorriones, _in Spanish), and they are, respectively, Poems IV, XI and XXIII. As always, chapter 5 will be up next week. If you have any question, PM me! Reviews are welcome! Thank you!_

_And, of course, Merry Christmas for all of you, have happy holidays and enjoy this days with lots of love and hope! Kisses, cookies and presents for the best readers of the world!_


	5. Chapter 5: New Base of Operations

"_So bright the tear in Beauty's eye, Love half regrets to kiss it dry_." – Lord Byron.

**_Chapter 5: New Base of Operations_**

Berenice had fallen asleep in his arms as a result of the tantrum, and Reid managed as he could to let her on the bed. Asleep, her mouth slightly open, her lips looked even bigger, and her wet lashes casted shadows on her cheeks. Reid thought about passing the tips of his fingers down one of the cheeks of the girl, which looked soft and warm. He shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside and he left the room quietly. He didn't like the way his thoughts were taking about Berenice. He had found himself searching her eyes every few minutes, unconsciously needing to see her face. It didn't help that every time he looked at her, she was looking at him. When their glances crossed, she smiled, and his heart raced. He had liked girls before, but they rarely heeded, he could count them with the fingers of one hand, and a couple left over. And since he worked in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, he had distanced himself even more of women, it was a job that girls didn't find attractive. In addition, his shyness always played against him when he tried to talk to a girl, he didn't know what to say and he just ended up dropping a bunch of data and percentages that made them rise their eyebrows and smile, just before leaving. But when he did that with Berenice, she seemed to find very interesting everything he said. A part of him thought she was just being polite, but could it be that she really thought he was interesting? Attractive? Reid pursed his lips, thinking it was quite improbable.

"Hey, how is she?" Morgan said. Reid shrugged.

"She's asleep. She's trying to assume everything." He replied.

"We should go back to the station. Prentiss and Rossi will be coming." JJ said.

Reid swallowed. Time to use the logic negotiation.

"We could stay here, too." He said, and everyone looked at him quizzical. "She already feels helpless enough to leave her alone, locked in an apartment without knowing what's going on, having to trust those unknown cops."

Morgan nodded.

"You're right. She trusts Reid, and she feels safer when we're close."

"It's also possible that the Unsub comes back here at having lost his connection with her." Reid said. "If his obsession is as we imagine it, he'll try to see her, to establish some contact any time soon. He won't bear not being capable of watch her."

Morgan nodded again.

"It's true. And there's a guest room, we could take turns to spend the night in pairs. One on the couch and one in the guest room. She'll agree, surely."

"What do I have to agree with?" Berenice asked from the doorway of her room, rubbing her swollen eyes.

"Reid has proposed to establish the base of operations in your apartment." JJ said, smiling, as if apologizing for the occurrence of her friend.

Berenice raised her eyebrows and looked at Reid. The words that the young man had said the night before came to her mind, _I'll take care of everything_, he said, when she had asked him she wanted the unit to protect her. The boy returned a sheepish look, biting his lip.

"It's ok." She whispered, and Reid smiled.

"All right then." Hotchner said. "I guess it's a good idea. From the windows there is a good view of the street, we can interrogate the neighbors, maybe they have seen something suspicious. Now we must return to the police station, to get all the cases files. JJ, you stay here."

All of them packed up and started to get up, Morgan gave Reid a raised eyebrow, who shrugged. Suddenly, somebody threw her arms around his neck and he stiffened.

"Thanks, thank you very much, Spencer." Berenice said in his ear, and JJ and Morgan stood watching them, suppressing a smile. Reid's face was priceless, with the girl's arms around his neck, tiptoeing, and he half bent, with his arms outstretched to the sides. "You can return the hug, if you want. Or shake my hand. I don't transmit diseases." She said.

"Actually, more germs are passed in a handshake than with a kiss." He said, without knowing what to say.

She chuckled in his ear.

"Are you trying say something?"

He blushed visibly muttering something that Berenice couldn't understand. She laughed and turned her face, planting a red lipstick kiss on his cheek. Then she smiled and went to the couch with Ginger, she was asleep. Reid was visibly embarrassed, and with her lips marked on his cheek, he took to the streets. Morgan and JJ agreed with a look not to say anything about the red lips that were stamped on his face.

* * *

Reid frowned as he went through one of the corridors of the police station; several people had looked askance as he walked by, with a slight smile. Morgan also seemed to be holding a smile, and Reid was about to ask when they entered Garcia's 'dungeon', the office she had built in the Seattle Police Station, completely surrounded by computers.

"Hello, loves." She said, turning around. When she saw him, her eyes widened. "Looks like you had a pretty interesting morning, hadn't you, Reid?"

Reid left his messenger bag on the floor and sat on a chair, slightly frowning.

"Why do you say that?"

"It seems that some lady has been loving you…" Garcia said as she pulled out a small mirror from her purse and approached him.

"Oh!" he exclaimed when he saw the lipstick mark on his face, and looked quickly for a hankie in his pocket to wipe his face, blushing quickly.

"Well, if you keep that color on your face, the lipstick would disguise." Morgan said as he and Garcia laughed .

"You could've told me…" Reid said through clenched teeth. The lipstick was imprinted like a tattoo, and it was starting to hurt trying to remove it. Garcia looked at Morgan and Reid, until Morgan started talking.

"It was Berenice. I would say that she's eager to show her… ahem… _gratitude_ to Reid." Morgan said raising an eyebrow, and Garcia opened her mouth.

"Oh, gosh, Reid!" Garcia said, nodding approvingly. "She's a sweetie! Well done, super genius. I knew your intelligence someday would…"

"Don't talk nonsense." Reid said. "She was just happy that we stay there with her."  
Morgan's brow furrowed slightly, half smiling.

"Wait, kid… She asked you to?"

Reid shrugged.

"Well, she said she couldn't trust anyone else, and…"

Garcia made a high-pitched noise in her throat that made Reid close his eyes. His head still aching, he wasn't in the mood for penetrating sounds.

"God, Garcia , you sound like a bat." Morgan said.

"Actually, the living being that emits the loudest sounds of nature is the humpback whale when it produces its low-frequency call." Reid said. "It can be heard within 900 miles."

"Well, I don't think I've been heard from that far." Garcia said. "Back to what we care… You're her knight in shining armor! And she's so cute…"

Reid rolled his eyes and looked in the mirror one last time, now he hadn't the brand of lipstick, just a big red mark on his cheek, the result of rubbing it with the tissue.

"I've only done what I thought best for a _victim_ in the _case_ in which we are _working_."

"Reid, what you've done is great… and you have to recognize that she's a sweetie."

Reid sighed.

"Sure she's pretty, but that's not…"

"Admit she's sweetie."

"What?"

"Admit it."

Reid shook his head .

"She's a sweetie?" His voice was hesitant. Garcia smiled triumphantly.

"I knew you thought that."

Morgan laughed loudly and Spencer pinched the bridge of his nose.

* * *

"Well..." Berenice said a couple of hours after the others had gone. Ginger was awake and she was preparing a cup of chocolate for her. JJ and the girl were sitting on the stools on the other side of the counter. The girl had already accepted that JJ was near her, but virtually no one else. Her parents were going to come at some point during the afternoon, and Reid and Morgan would lead them to Berenice's apartment, and they would stay there, questioning neighbors. Berenice really liked JJ, maybe because she could see the close relationship she had with Reid. She also liked the Doctor, maybe even a bit more than she should like a FBI agent who was only there to protect her from a psychopath . "Dr. Reid… he's quite special, isn't he?"

JJ smiled, she was an intelligent woman who easily perceived what the people around her felt. And she knew that Berenice was interested in the youngest member of her unit.

"Yeah, he's pretty special." She replied. "Why?"

Berenice shrugged.

"I don't know… he's so smart, so kind…" she smiled as she remembered his attitude to the embrace. "So shy… I don't know, I've never met any man like him."

JJ laughed.

"Oh, no, you won't. Spence is unique. He's one of my best friends, that's why I chose him to be the godfather of my son."

Berenice raised her eyebrows.

"You have a son?"

JJ smiled.

"Yes, he's called Henry. He's three years old and he's… perfect." Her face lit up with mother's love and Berenice smiled, giving her a cup of chocolate and another to Ginger. Then she poured one for herself.

"Wow… it must be very hard to travel so much. Reid told me that you guys are normally in Virginia… Quantico, right?"

JJ nodded.

"Yes, it's hard. Especially when cases widen a lot and you can spend weeks without seeing your husband and your son..."

"Are you married too?"

"Yes, he's called Will."

Berenice smiled.

"Beautiful, intelligent, with an incredible job, a husband and a child. I must say you have an enviable life, Agent Jareau."

JJ laughed, she didn't think anyone would ever brand her life as _enviable_.

"Call me JJ, if we're going to be sleeping in your house, the least is to call us by our names."

Berenice smiled as she took a sip of her chocolate.

"Well, if you're going to protect me from a rapist maniac the least I can do is let you stay and sleep here. Furthermore, sometimes I'm just tired of being alone at home… I like to live alone, don't misunderstand me, but…"

JJ nodded.

"I know, you get tired of being alone sometimes."

Berenice nodded, and pulled out some cookies and other pastries. The thought of how she would nourish the whole unit passed fleetingly through her head, but she figured that the FBI would occupy of that. Or so she hoped, because if she couldn't go to work... the January blues would be much harder this year.

"I was convinced to come and live in Seattle when I was offered the job of substitute last summer." Berenice said. "I left my parents' house in San Francisco and by September I was already installed. Living alone is great... and here in Seattle live my best life long friend, Kat. We hadn't seen each other for a few months since she moved here with her boyfriend, and now we work together. So it's great… but I hoped that things were a little different." She raised her eyebrows. "And I certainly didn't expect to start the year with the FBI camped in my house."

JJ laughed.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?"

Berenice shook her head.

"Not at all. Since I broke up with my high school sweetheart, four years ago, I haven't had one. I think I'm too picky."

JJ smiled.

"Well, it's better to wait for someone to fulfill your expectations than to conform with the first guy that turn the corner… Why did you break up with your boyfriend, if it's not too personal?"

Berenice shook her head.

"No, don't worry. I broke up with him because he was an idiot. He was a manipulative egomaniac with a little brain. He didn't treat me well, and my friend Kat made me see…"

She shut up with the sound of the doorbell. She walked toward the entrance, but JJ raised a hand, indicating that she was going. She had her hand on the butt of her gun as she approached the door. Berenice felt how her heart was hammering in her chest at the thought that perhaps it wasn't the rest of agents with Ginger's parents, perhaps it was _The Crawler_... JJ looked through the peephole and her whole body relaxed, Berenice sighed. JJ opened the door and found the shy face of Reid, with an awkward lopsided grin. He raised his hand in salute and entered, followed by Morgan and a couple that should be in their forties. Berenice came out from behind the counter and went to stand beside Reid, to let Ginger and her parents reunite. The woman began to mourn and approached the girl. To everyone's surprise, Ginger stepped back and ran, she walked around the counter and hid behind Berenice. The woman looked up to the hurt gazes of Ginger's parents and then she looked at Reid, pleading silently helps. Reid took a deep breath and crouched.

"Hey, hum… Ginger, hey… what's wrong? Your mom and dad are here."

The girl pressed her face against Berenice thighs and shook her head .

"I won't." She whispered.

"What?" Reid whispered gently.

"Go with them. I won't."

Reid raised his eyebrows and looked around. JJ joined him, kneeling on the floor.

"Sweetheart, why don't you wanna go with your parents?" The woman said softly.

The girl looked up at JJ's eyes.

"Because they are friends with the bad man." She whispered.

* * *

_**AN: **__I'm so happy for all the follows and favorites, thank you! Have a funny new year's eve and a bright and wonderful 2014!_


	6. Chapter 6: Always There

**_AN: _**_Extra chapter this week! Consider it as the award to the best reader, who has reviewed all the chapters, the wonderful _**SeedsAndMisdeeds**_! Thank you for your reviews, you really made my day, and I hope you like this chapter! Oh, and thank you, all new readers! _

* * *

_"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." - _Eden Ahbez

**_Chapter 6: Always there_**

All eyes turned to the tearfully couple that now seemed perplexed. Berenice felt the anger boiling inside, without really knowing why.

"You let someone took your daughters?" She hissed. The woman fell to her knees, sobbing.

"Of course not!" the man said, approaching Berenice. Reid stepped to the side, standing between the man and the girl. Ginger's father frowned. "We've been looking for them for almost a month, we don't..."

"Come on, calm down everybody." Morgan said, raising his hands. "Don't rush, ok? Let's sit down."

Berenice turned and grabbed Ginger from beneath her armpits, she circled her neck and rested her head on her chest, surrounding her waist with her legs. She took the girl to her room and closed the door.

Everyone looked how she left with raised eyebrows, and Ginger's mother sobbed harder.

"She takes my baby…"

"Mrs. Harris, that woman is the one that saved your daughter." Reid said. "She isn't an agent, and she has established an affectionate relationship with Ginger."

"We don't know who took her." Mr. Harris said, offended. JJ nodded.

"What the girl just said doesn't condemn you, Mr. Harris. But it may mean that you know the kidnapper. Let's sit down and talk about some of your acquaintances, ok?"

The couple nodded, trying to ignore that their daughter, who has been gone for a month, was in the next room with a stranger.

* * *

Ginger sat hugging her legs, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. Berenice rubbed her back, making circles with the palm of her hand. Slowly, she ran her hand up to her head, and paced her long fingers on the scalp of the girl, who immediately relaxed a little.

"My mother used to do this to me when I was a child. Every time I was worried, or sad, and it always helped me…" Berenice said. "Ginger, do you want to talk about what happened outside? About your parents?"

The girl turned her blue eyes to her face.

"I thought I was going to stay with you." She whispered, feeling cheated. Berenice sighed.

"Honey, it doesn't work like that. A girl has to be with her parents. Why do you think that they are friends of the bad man?"

The girl spoke with a knot in her throat: "Because I saw him at home a few times before he took me."

Berenice swallowed.

"You know, you've never explained me what happened."

The girl looked at her with wide eyes.

"No… I can't…"

Berenice shook her head, panic was palpable as an aura surrounding Ginger, and she raised her arms and surrounded the little body, pulling her to her. It was almost unimaginable what the little toddler had seen, heard and felt, what she had gone through, being so young and the fear she had experienced.

"Shhh, shhh... you don't have to tell me anything."

She nodded against her chest.

"But," Berenice added. "That bad man who did so much damage to your sister, now he's looking for me. This morning in the car you haven't wanted to say anything. It was because the blond woman was there, right?" The girl nodded. While Reid and Morgan were searching her apartment, Berenice had tried to ask Ginger a few questions, but the child hadn't answered to anything. "You could tell me now. We are alone."

The girl raised her face to Berenice.

"He has curly black hair and a beard. I saw him a few times talking to my parents at home." The girl swallowed, it seemed that every word that went out her mouth required all her inner strength. "And I had seen you before he told me to go talk to you and that you would help me. He had many pictures of you."

Berenice gulped, noticing how she got goosebumps all over her body. She shouldn't be surprised, knowing the videos he had.

"When he brought food or came to talk to us, he called us by our names." She said. "But when he came down to take Leslie upstairs, he called her _Berenice_. She always shouted that it wasn't her name, that she didn't know any Berenice. But he didn't care."

Berenice breathed deeply and fought with all her might to keep the tears at bay.

"So, tell me, Ginger… the day you came to find me… you left your sister asleep… He'd taken her up that day?"

The girl nodded, watery eyes.

"Yes, and that day they made more noise. I thought it was very weird, because when he came down screaming 'Berenice!', she replied 'I'm here'. I found it very weird, because her name is Leslie."

Berenice buried her face in one of her hands, covering her eyes. God, it was true... at the time she had accepted her new role, he had killed her... when Leslie had accepted being _her_.

"Ginger, listen." She said, taking a deep breath to gather the courage. "Now let's get out."

"No..." the girl whimpered.

"Yes." Berenice cut, with her I'm-the-teacher-don't-disobey-me face. "We're going out and we will ask Dr. Reid if your parents were friends of the bad man."

The girl swallowed hard and brushed a lock of blond hair from her face with clumsy hands.

"Dr. Reid? He will tell the truth, right?"

Berenice nodded.

"Yes, of course he will. And if he thinks that you must go with your parents, you'll obey. No, listen." she said, seeing that Ginger would interrupt her. "If Dr. Reid believes that your parents had something to do with what has happened to Leslie and you, then you'll be here with me."

The girl bit her lip, hesitating. Finally, she nodded.

"Ok, well, I'm sure you miss so much the school and your friends."

The girl slightly smiled, and nodded with more emphasis. Berenice rose, wishing with all her force that Ginger's parents wouldn't have had anything to do, because she couldn't keep her promise if so.

She opened the door and went out, with the girl's hand strongly held.

"Ok…" Prentiss said, she should have come at some point while they were inside the room. "Let's think about people who may have come to your home to fix something, an appliance that will take a while, that will take a couple of days."

"We know he's very good with computers." JJ said.

"And he has curly black hair and a beard." Berenice said, and everyone turned to her. Ginger's parents rose, but Berenice raised a hand to stop them and crouched in front of Ginger. "Do you remember what we talked about, right?" The girl nodded. "Well, come on, ask him."

She nudged the girl forward, and Ginger stood halfway between Berenice and the others, twisting the tips of her hair nervously.

"Mr. Doctor Reid." She said weakly, her cheeks flushed. "I would like to know if my parents had something to do with what has happened to Leslie and me."

It didn't go unnoticed to Berenice that she had repeated what she had said, word by word. Reid looked at her and then at the girl and went a little forward, crouching in front of her.

"Uh… N-no, Ginger, your parents didn't have anything to do. We believe that man came to your house pretending to be someone else, and your parents let him in, not knowing what was going to happen." He cleared his throat. "Your parents have missed you, Ginger."

The girl wiped a fugitive tear and whimpered.

"I missed them too."

That was enough for her mother to pounce on the girl and hold her between sobs and kisses, the father joined, hugging them both. Reid rose from the ground and looked at Berenice, she approached him and looked at the others, who watched with approval. She leaned over Reid and whispered:

"Tell me what I've done has been for the better."

Reid turned to look at her, with a grin on his face, showing his white teeth.

"I don't think you could've done it better."

Berenice grinned and leaned her head on the shoulder of Reid a few seconds, then she looked back at him, he cleared his throat.

"Ginger told me some things you should know."

Reid put aside the feeling of his heart pounding against his ribs and nodded, going back to his 'professional mode'.

* * *

"Have you thought about leaving a change of clothes in my house?" Berenice said, running her fingers through her hair, trying to smooth out the natural wavy shape.

Reid nodded.

"Yes, indeed, I sure thought about it. Apparently we're going to sleep there often, so it would be advisable..."

"Yes, Reid, we get it." Prentiss said from the front seat . "Easy, Nissy, we will."

Reid frowned and leaned toward Berenice.

"Nissy?"

She shrugged.

"Apparently it's my new nickname. Morgan already called me that this morning." Her tone made clear that the nickname wasn't exactly of her liking.

"The nicknames are a very common term of endearment. To shorten your name is a positive sign that people have you esteem." He said.

"Ok, but it seems a cat name." Berenice whispered. Reid raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, it's totally a cat name."

Berenice chuckled and both looked each other for a few seconds.

"_Meow_." She whispered, breaking the silence, and they both snickered, although not as lowly as they thought.

"What's going on back there?" Morgan said from the driver's seat.

"Reid explained me some anecdotes about the discovering of..." she looked at Reid, asking for help with a smile. He smiled back.

"Of DNA. Did you know that it was discovered in 1869 by the Swiss Friedrich Mieschler?"

Morgan laughed to himself.

"Ok, Reid. Do your thing, but know that you guys have a very strange sense of humor."

"I get that a lot." Both of them said at once, and looked at each other for a few seconds, then Berenice looked away and turned her face to the window. The smile dancing on her lips liked her and worried her equally.

"Well, we're here." Morgan said, parking the car in front of the school. "Remember, eyes open, it's possible that the Unsub walks by."

Berenice got down the black car feeling nervous and observed. The previous afternoon they had managed to make a sketch of the kidnapper, and Berenice could say in all honesty that he wasn't familiar at all to her. It was showed to all her neighbors, and no one had seen him. Who was this man, and why no one remembered him? Knowing he had been in her apartment, that he had taken pictures of her, that had followed her and knew her name gave her chills, but the fact that neither she nor anyone else had seen him was almost creepier. As far as she was concerned, he could be anyone.

That night JJ and Prentiss had been sleeping at Berenice's, all three had been talking as if there were nothing to worry about in the world. But when Berenice went to sleep, the two women had been reviewing all the information she had given them that evening. Ginger had gone with her parents to a hotel, after a long hug and the promise of stay in touch, and many, many 'thanks' from her mother, and though Berenice had saddened a little at the separation, she knew she couldn't wish for anything better for the child. Her parents had to deal now with the death of one of their daughters and partly because of her, at least they kept their baby.

"Who do you recommend us to talk with?" Morgan said, turning to her.

"Susan, the receptionist, is the best choice. She's the biggest gossip I've met in my life, I think she has spies everywhere. She's the _Littlefinger_ in the _Game of Thrones_ that this school is." Berenice sighed. "And you say that in the cabin there was nothing." Berenice said, putting on her red RayBan glasses, breathing deeply. That day she was wearing black tight jeans and a runaway t-shirt of George Michael, with an image of the video _Faith_. She wore an open fake leather jacket and a black scarf with white skulls around her neck, in which she sank her mouth. Flat booties and the red lips' purse Garcia liked so much finished off what she had chosen to return to school. Prentiss shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. The Unsub had to leave when he failed your kidnap. Just had some furniture, and the body in the basement."

Berenice wrinkled her nose and felt Reid's hand on her shoulder. That touch made her feel a little better, and gave her the strength to cross the school gates. Upon entering, Susan, the receptionist, a woman of middle age, redhead and a little chubby, got up with a smile.

"Berenice!" She screamed. "Thank God! I was so worried! What you explained us was very vague, and you sounded very distressed…"

"Yeah well, I'm better now." Berenice lied, resting her elbows on the counter. Susan looked at the three persons accompanying Berenice with doubt printed in her eyes.

"And... can I know what's happening?"

Morgan stepped forward, pulling the plate off.

"Sorry, ma'am, but Miss Baker is involved in a private investigation of the FBI." Berenice rolled her eyes, dismissively. "I'm Agent Morgan, and these are my companions, Agent Prentiss and Dr. Reid."

Susan blinked a few times, absorbing what she had just heard while watching Morgan.

"And..." she cleared her throat. "What can I do to help you, agents?"

"We are looking for a man who will come here almost daily." Prentiss said. "He probably stayed out of the gate, like if he was waiting for someone."

"It's possible that a mother has complained about him, for looking suspicious." Reid said. Susan looked puzzled, her eyes wandering all of them and then back to Berenice.

"Berry, what's this?"

"Just answer, Susan." Berenice said with a sigh.

"N-no." She said. "We haven't received any complaints of that nature."

"Perhaps you've seen this man." Prentiss said without much hope, and pulled out the sketch, which Berenice avoided looking. Susan caught it frowning.

"Mmm... Well, if you take away the beard he's much like the uncle of Michael Lloyd, from sixth grade. Dean Lloyd, I think he's called. Comes to pick him up every day. He was here yesterday."

Everyone raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"Can we talk to Michael, please?" Morgan said.

* * *

The twelve-year-old boy looked at them with the arrogance of his age while he returned them the sketch.

"Yes, he's my uncle." He said.

"He shouldn't have close relatives." Reid said in a whisper to Prentiss. "It doesn't fit the profile."

"We are looking for this man, Michael, because he has done something wrong." Prentiss said. "And we need you to tell us everything you know."

The boy chuckled and looked away. Berenice snorted and stepped forward, standing in front of the others.

"Look, Michael, the kids like you are the ones that convince me to work in Kindergarten." She said, pointing a finger to his face. "But I am a teacher of this school, and by extension, that makes me your _boss_. Start talking if you don't want to write '_I won't be a snotty and repellent brat_' on the board of my classroom a thousand times every afternoon for the next three months."

Michael blinked a few times and swallowed, looking into the eyes of the nicest teacher of the school, the teacher all his friends liked. She was young, beautiful, she was kind and cheerful, and now Michael knew that beside it, she was scary.

"He isn't my uncle." He admitted. "He appeared in the school's door at the beginning of the school year and told me he'd pay me a dollar a day if I left him go with me to the end of the street and told the teachers that he was my uncle."

Reid and Prentiss looked at each other, yes, it fit. Berenice resisted the urge to give the kid a slap.

"And you agreed?" She seethed. "Didn't anybody ever tell you that you shouldn't talk to strangers, much less let them give you money for walk you home?"

The boy slightly frowned.

"He didn't walk me home, just to the end of the street. I'm not an idiot."

"Oh, yes, yes you are." Berenice said closing her eyes to hold herself back. "You _are _an idiot. Completely idiot. Idiot to the core. Do you realize that this man is dangerous? Oh, God knows what he could've done…" she whispered, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Michael, we need you to tell us more about him. Did you talk, did he ever mention why he asked you to do that?" Morgan said. Michael shrugged.

"No, we never talked. I thought he was just a little weird dude. Is he dangerous? What has he done?"

"He hurt a lot of people, and plans to hurt a lot more. Really, any information you can give us..." Prentiss said.

"I know nothing more. He's tall and strong, hard-looking. Her voice is very low. Ah, yesterday he seemed angry. When I asked, he said he had to move in a hurry, but didn't say why. What... what has he done?" Now his eyes reflected the fear of a child. Berenice sighed, calming down.

"Agent Prentiss already told you. You think you could call us if you remember anything else?"

Michael nodded and Prentiss handed him a card.

"Thank you. If you see him again, call us." Morgan added. The boy swallowed hard and went back to class, with his shoulders lower than when he had arrived.

"Every day..." Berenice murmured. "Every fucking day in the school door." She looked up to look at the three FBI agents. "Probably I greeted him sometime. I had to cross with him dozens of times without noticing him. God, God, God..." she began to murmur, and she sat on the floor in anguish, her hands on either sides of the head, stretching her features. Reid bent down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know it's unsettling, but this is how many psychopaths act. They watch and wait for their victim, they're always there. He'll probably think that he's in love with you, and that you somehow love him back."

Prentiss frowned.

"That would explain even better why he killed Leslie. When she accepts the role, he feels offended, because she isn't his beloved."

"But then if he catch me, I shouldn't fight, right? Shouldn't I play along?" Berenice reasoned.

Reid's face looked like if he had reinvented the wheel.

"He acts differently with some victims than with others." He said. "The child is the bait, the warranty, and when she's no longer useful, he leaves her behind. The kid starves because she is a toddler and can't do nothing to save herself, not because he actually cares that she dies or not. He just tried to shoot Ginger because she was on his way."

"The older sister is a fantasy." Morgan continued. "She's like a doll he uses to pretend she's the woman he wants. He abuses and mistreat her for subdue her, but when she goes along, the truth hits him and his fantasy becomes meaningless. Probably he strangles her in a fit of anger and hate."

"And then…" Prentiss continued, following the thread of her companions, who watched with their mouths ajar. "Then comes the real victim, the one he really wants. Surely it takes him so long to go for her because he believes that if he waits, she'll notice him. When she doesn't, and the fantasy is over, he takes action. He kills these victims soon, when he get tired of their fighting. In the murders there is a lot of rage..."

"Because they are crimes of passion." Reid finished. "When he accepts that she doesn't love him back is when he kills her."

Berenice swallowed.

"Are you saying that he's _in love _with me?"

Reid nodded.

"In the sickest and most twisted aspect of love, but yes."

Berenice closed her eyes. She preferred it when she thought he only wanted her dead.


	7. Chapter 7: Get Yourself Comfortable

_**AN**__: Hello darlings! Personally, this is my favorite chapter so... *breathes heavily* I hope you like it as well!_

* * *

_"In love there is no free will, no one can decide for who is going to fall in love." _**- **Alejandro Dolina

**_Chapter 7: Get yourself comfortable_**

Berenice was still sitting on the floor when a shrill voice made everyone swivel toward the end of the hall.

"Berry?" A young girl with short platinum blonde and disheveled hair said. Her gray eyes were large and bright, and her thin lips were painted purple. She wore a septum piercing and a white t-shirt inside her skinny jeans and a denim vest of the same shade and a pair of red Converse. "Oh, Berry, you're here!" She exclaimed, running to her. Berenice stood up and the two women embraced with emphasis.

"Kat..." Berenice whimpered in her friend's ear, who looked up and stared at the FBI agents, frowning.

"Berry... what's this about?" Her friend said as they parted. She looked into her face and took it between her both hands; her nails were short and were painted red. She took her friend's tears away with her thumbs. "Eh, no mascara smudging, 'k? " The girl said, and Berenice nodded with a smile, turning away from her hands and opening her purse. Before she could find anything, a long-fingered hand offered her a Kleenex.

"Oh, thank you, Reid." She said, taking it and smiling at Reid for a second. He nodded and stepped back again. "This is my friend Kat Britton." She said, wiping her tears. "Kat, these are Dr. Reid, Agent Morgan and Agent Prentiss, from FBI."

Kat nodded and shook their hands, Reid just dedicated her a little wave. Berenice smiled. Kat raised her eyebrows at the rejection of Reid and looked at Berenice.

"More germs are transmitted by shaking hands than kissing." Berenice reported.

"Does that mean I have to kiss him?" Kat said.

"No, I think we can save that." Reid said.

"I can tell her the truth, right?" Berenice said. "She's my best friend, and she works here."

The agents looked at each other.

"Yeah, I guess there's no problem." Morgan said, with a slight shrug.

"And..." Berenice ventured. "What do you think if while you guys interrogate and put Kat in the picture I go to say goodbye to my class? It seems that I won't come here in a while."

At a glance, the agents agreed. Reid nodded.

"Come on, I'll walk you."

* * *

"And you must be very good and pay much attention to Ms. Collins." Berenice said, turning to the dark woman who replaced her.

"Aren't you coming back?" Sarah asked, one of the most obedient girls.

"I don't know, Sarah. I hope so."

"Get well, ma'am!" Several children exclaimed at once, and Berenice nodded and turned to Reid, preparing to leave the classroom. Her hands were full of drawings of her with the words 'come back soon' or 'get well' written with trembling letters. Berenice sighed before she dedicated a final farewell with her hand and left the classroom.

She breathed deeply and looked at Reid.

"I think this has been one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my life." She said. "Saying goodbye to my first class without knowing if I'll ever see them again."

"Of course you shall return." Reid said. "Everything will be solved."

"What if we don't find him, you'll be protecting me forever?" Berenice said, tired of the situation. "I don't know, sometimes I think that I should live a normal life and prepare myself for get kidnapped. That you watched me, but not so closely."

"We watch so closely for prevent the kidnap, and because you said you wanted us to be there, so you feel more secure." Reid discussed. Berenice cocked her head.

"You're right." She sighed. "I don't even know what I'm saying. I just said goodbye to my first job as a teacher, my dreamed job. I'm a little upset."

Reid cleared his throat.

"It makes sense, don't worry. But don't do anything stupid, ok? Don't make my job any harder."

Berenice laughed.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I'll do my best."

Reid sighed.

"You know what I mean. I'm trying to protect you, I _want_ to protect you. Don't try to be a hero."

Berenice smiled.

"Easy, I won't act as bait."

Reid nodded, glad to see that she understood what he meant.

"I wish I'd met you under different circumstances, Spencer." She said with a sigh. "Really, I wish that you had invited me to the movies or coffee, without a murderer after me."

Reid smiled.

"Well, it's a little late for that." He said. "But tonight we can watch a movie, if you want to. I'm what's considered a night owl."

Berenice laughed.

"Me too. Ok, so what movie you want to see?"

Reid decided to play it safe.

"I saw the tattoo behind your ear. I think I'll say Harry Potter."

Berenice laughed heartily.

"Did you recognize the symbol of the Deathly Hallows? Point for the genius." Berenice said, looking at him with approval.

"Do I get more points if I say that I recognized the leg tattoo too? I think it's an engraving of _Alice in Wonderland_."

She raised her eyebrows.

"Hold this." She said, handing him the pile of drawings, which he grabbed awkwardly. Berenice took off her jacket and turned her back, showing a tattoo on her right shoulder-blade, the face of a boy in side view, with a lot of scars and tousled black hair. Reid snorted.

"Edward Scissorhands. That one was easy." He said. "Tim Burton, 1990."

"Ok, smartass." She said, turning to the other side and rolling up her shirt, showing a tattoo of a girl dressed in fur, drawn in the Japanese style.

"Oh, Princess Mononoke." Reid said. "Protagonist of the homonymous film by Hayao Miyazaki."

Berenice rolled her eyes and took the jacket back.

"Ok, you're a geek like me. Prize: tonight you choose the movie."

Reid smiled.

"Don't you have more tattoos to challenge me with?"

She gave him a crooked smile.

"None that I can show you in public."

He laughed and looked away, embarrassed. Were they... flirting? Berenice and him? Really?

"Well, this afternoon I'll check your film library to see which one I like better." Reid said. She nodded.

"It seems perfect to me."

* * *

Morgan had already gone to sleep, and Berenice, with black pajama pants with electric guitars drawn in pink and a skin-tight apple green tank top, and barefoot, was making popcorn. Reid was wearing the same white shirt he had worn all day, with a brown tie, black dress pants and black Converse.

"You know..." Berenice said. "You can wear your pajamas. You'll sleep here, I don't care and you'll be more comfortable."

Reid shrugged as he scanned the titles of the movies with his eyes. It required much of his concentration not to look at Berenice. He didn't think that someone's pajamas could be an attractive garment, but now it turned out that it could.

"I'm fine." He said.

"Not even you believe that." Berenice said, much closer than he had thought she was. "Let me." She said, and she took him by the shoulders until Reid stood up straight. Then she easily undid the knot of his tie and pulled it off, taking it gently and leaving it next to the TV so it didn't crease. Reid could see every movement of her muscles under her thin shirt, and he looked away, breathing deeply. She turned toward him and grabbed his shirt, pulling it out of his pants and surrounded his waist with her arms to do the same on his back. Reid stiffened, nervous, and swallowed. She made it feel so normal. The curiosity was bigger than the nervousness, and he turned his face to her. She raised her hands to unbutton the top two buttons of his shirt, without looking into his eyes, but he was staring at her face. Again, with no makeup, she looked gorgeous to Reid. Her lips had a little pout as she undid the buttons, her eyelashes were long and her cheeks were rosy. Her hair was collected in a bun and red tips were peeking out here and there. She looked up and met his gaze. "And shoes off." She said. "Make yourself at home."

He nodded and took off his shoes, leaving them beside the couch, thinking that at home no one ordered him to take off or put on anything. Then he grabbed a box from his bag and took off the contact lenses. He took his old glasses and put them on. Berenice was looking at his socks, one was green and white striped and the other was blue. She grinned at seeing this, but her smile widened as she looked up at Reid's face with the glasses on, as he came back to her.

"Are you happy now?" He said. The glasses looked so well on him that Berenice felt her heart skip a beat. This time it was her turn to swallow.

"Yes." She said. "And sure you're too. You look so good with those glasses." She said, and the last sentence sounded almost plaintive. He smiled, looking down.

"Morgan advised me to start wearing contact lenses." He whispered.

"Bullshit." She said, extending a hand to touch the glasses' frame. "They are great."

Reid didn't realize of how close they were until, at her last words, Berenice's breath hit his face. On the contrary, she was painfully aware that his chest was at millimeters from her, that as her thumb and her index finger were touching the glasses, the rest of her fingers were resting against his cheek, and that his hot breath was caressing her face. Berenice moved her eyes to meet Reid's, just to see that he was looking at her mouth. Berenice's heart started pounding, and she moved her body slightly forward.

_Ding!_

The microwave's bell sounded and both of them jumped, startled, separating from each other. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her mind, and he coughed.

"Um… well…" Reid said. "I think I want to see… _Where the Wild Things Are_? What do you think?"

She nodded as she headed to the kitchen and threw the popcorn in a bowl.

"Great. You're the first person I know that have liked it. I think it's perfect."

Reid smiled.

"Well, I agree. My mother used to read me the story as a child."

"Really? My father read it to me every night! I know it by heart." She said, pouring two glasses of Coke. "And tell me, Reid, where are you from?"

Reid pulled the film off the shelf.

"From Las Vegas."

"Wow, sounds funny." She said, raising her eyebrows as she walked to the couch. Her heart was still beating fast, but she decided to ignore it. She put everything on the table and pushed Grammy to one side to sit on the couch, the dog kept sleeping. Sometimes Berenice believed that more than sleep, her dog walked in and out of a coma several times during the day.

"Not so much. Kids can be cruel when somebody's different." Reid said. "I wouldn't say that my childhood was 'funny'."

Berenice pursed her lips.

"Yeah, I know what that is." She said, watching Reid putting the film in the DVD player. "Do your parents still live in Las Vegas?"

Reid shook his head.

"Yeah, my mother's still there."

"What about your father?" Berenice said, without knowing what she expected to hear. Reid sat beside her on the sofa.

"My father left when I was ten. I guess it was too hard to have a son like me."

Berenice frowned and moved closer to him.

"To be so smart, you can say great stupidities." She said. "No child's fault that their parents leave. What about your mother? How is she?" She had to be a great woman to had raised a man like him all alone. Reid grimaced.

"Um, more or less. She's admitted into a sanatorium. She's..." He took a breath. "She has... paranoid schizophrenia."

Berenice swallowed.

"Oh, well." She said, surprised and worried at the same time. "And how is she?"

Reid shrugged.

"Fine. And what about you?" He said, changing the subject. "Tell me about your parents."

Berenice smiled.

"Is there anything that you don't know already?"

Reid laughed.

"Berenice Baker, 23 years old, daughter of Linda and George Baker residents in San Francisco. You have a brother, Paul, who lives in Europe, in France, and he's a painter. For the file, you seemed a pretty normal family."

Berenice raised her eyebrows, resting her elbow on the back of the couch and her head in her hand.

"We are. There's nothing special to tell. My parents have always been good to me and my brother, and have encouraged us to do whatever we wanted. My brother wanted to paint, they bought paint and canvas, I wanted to play an instrument, they bought a guitar, and then a piano." She shrugged. "I think I've been lucky in that aspect of my life. My parents have always given us freedom of speech. They even let me paint the walls of my room when I was thirteen."

Reid laughed.

"And I see you've kept that as a custom." He said, pointing with a hand movement all across the wall. She laughed too.

"Oh, I couldn't resist." Berenice said, looking at her work. "I love to paint, draw, play... virtually all types of art. Well... these poems are..." she smiled, unable to find words.

"I was surprised that you have written them in their original language."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Have you also recognized the verses?"

"Bécquer, yes."

She laughed heartily as she took command of the DVD.

"I hope to find someday something that you actually don't know." Berenice said. He smiled as she settled beside him, feet up on the couch and she put the bowl of popcorn between them.


	8. Chapter 8: Adapt or Die

_"If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars." -_ Rabindranath Tagore

**_Chapter 8: Adapt or Die_**

_"I don't care if Monday's blue, Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too… ¡Thursday! I don't care about you, it's Friday, I'm in…"_

"GARCIA!" JJ yelled from the couch, sitting and looking at Berenice and Garcia from above the back of the sofa, with sleepy eyes. "Is it necessary to sing so _loud_?"

Garcia, who that day wore an orange and pink dress with matching glasses, raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, sorry, but it's Nissy's fault. You can't expect to play this song and that people don't sing along."

"Don't you blame me; you're the one who is _on fire_." Berenice said.

They both looked at each other's eyes and started singing at the same time: "_This girl is on fiiiiiiireeeee…" _and then they both burst into laugh, with JJ rolling her eyes and snapping her head against the pillow again.

In that moment, as the song by The Cure still sounding from the speakers, the guest room's door opened and Reid went out, wearing a gray t-shirt and dark blue pajama pants, barefoot and with disheveled brown hair. After much prodding by Berenice, the young man had slept there every night that week, and had taken his pajamas. It was better than a hotel, anyway. He was rubbing an eye, and with the other eye he was sending them a lethal glance.

"Oh, Reid, have we woken you?" Berenice said. Reid just nodded as he headed to the bathroom.

"Did I sing too loud?" Garcia asked, smiling apologetically. Reid stood in the bathroom door and looked at them.

"When glasses break and windows shake, you know that you're singing too loud." He said, going into the bathroom.

"Uh, well, Doc's a little grumpy in the morning, isn't he?" Garcia said, turning toward the kitchen and turning back to the pancake she was preparing.

"Sarcasm goes to his head if he doesn't have a coffee." Berenice said, pouring a cup of coffee with a few drops of milk and a teaspoon of sugar, as he liked it, though Berenice wasn't able to understand it.

It was Sunday 12 of January, the day after would be a week since Ginger had approached her while she was reading the newspaper. Six days had been enough for her to get used to everybody and all of them to her, perhaps with the exception of Hotchner. Garcia had been there a couple of nights before, saying she wanted to spend time with them and see their faces, and Berenice and she had agree that she would get back on Sunday to prepare breakfast together for them all. Maybe everybody else just didn't like waking up so early on Sunday.

"Did you tell Morgan and Emily?" Garcia said.

"Yes, and to Rossi and Hotchner too, but I don't know if they'll come."

Garcia laughed.

"Oh, Rossi will come. You don't know him yet, but he always is up for anything."

Berenice laughed out loud while Reid left the bathroom, much more awake and with his hair less disheveled. He took the cup of coffee Berenice handed him.

"Thank you." He said, taking a sip with his eyes closed. His glasses misted and Berenice smiled. Garcia elbowed her in the ribs.

"I've heard you've been sleeping here every night..." Garcia said, raising her eyebrows at Reid.

He looked at her, but was Berenice who answered.

"Yes, I asked him to. It turns out that everybody else is really _boring_ and go to bed at ten o'clock. Reid's like me, no sleep before 2 a.m."

Reid laughed through his nose.

"Said the girl who fell asleep at a half an hour of _Dogville_."

Berenice pretended being offended.

"Hey! I've seen it about twenty times, and we had seen before _They Shoot Horses, Don't They?_ And additionally, Thursday was a long day."

Garcia licked a finger after leaving the pancake on the plate.

"What did you do on Thursday?"

Berenice smiled giving a sip of her coffee with cinnamon.

"Oh, it was the best day of my life. I spent aaaaaaaall day long looking at pictures of ex-cons to see if any of them could be my impetuous admirer." Berenice shrugged. "We didn't take anything of it, except that the guy who baths Grammy is a fan of climbing trees with binoculars around his neck." She sighed as she turned back the omelette she was preparing. "Note to self: lower the blinds."

Garcia and Reid smiled as JJ got up and headed to the bathroom.

"I'm taking a shower, is that ok?"

Berenice nodded, pointing to the door of the bathroom with the spatula.

"_Mi casa es tu casa._"

"I'll get dressed." Reid said, getting up from the stool and he headed to the room, Berenice cocked her head as she watched him walk away.

"What's going on here?" Garcia said in a whisper and raising her eyebrows.

Berenice smiled, looking at the brown surface of her coffee.

"What do you mean?"

"You and the Wonder Boy." She said.

_Ding dong_. Berenice looked at the door.

"Saved by the bell." Garcia murmured, while Berenice approached the door and looked through the peephole. She opened the door, happy.

"Kat! You? Here?"

The friends hugged and then Kat greeted Garcia, they knew each other because they had met on Friday night.

"Oh, you couldn't choose a better moment." Garcia said, giving her a cup of coffee, which the blonde girl grabbed with a smile. "I was asking Berenice what's going on between her and Reid."

Kat opened her mouth.

"Reid's the skinny, right? Really cute..." She nodded. "Yeah, I've noticed it too, Berry. Shoot."

"There is nothing to _shoot_." Berenice said in a whisper. "I think we're friends. I mean, I know he wouldn't be here if it wasn't for _the Crawler_, but..."

"But he _is _here." Kat said. "And that's what matters. Who cares what have brought him here? You like him, I know it."

Berenice felt how she blushed and Garcia clapped lightly.

"Yes, I knew it!"

"Oh, Berry, I haven't seen you blush for a boy since we were five years old and Harry Turner lifted your skirt in the play yard." Kat said. "So? Something happened?"

Berenice snorted.

"What _the hell _you expect to happen? We talk a lot, we watch movies and we spent hours on the couch, reading, but that's it."

Garcia served the rest of the pancakes on a plate and brought it to the center table.

"Oh, Poppy, Reid's so shy. You have to be the one to go for it."

"I'm not gonna go for anything." Berenice said, at that time, Reid opened the door. He wore a white shirt with a black tie and a red jacket, black pants and his usual Converse. Berenice pouted.

"You took off the glasses." She said mournfully. Reid smiled.

"Yes. And you've put on your makeup."

She shrugged.

"Uh... did I miss something?" Garcia said.

"Oh, ah..." Berenice said. "I told Spencer that I like him better with his glasses on, and he told me that I'm prettier without makeup. We've betrayed each other."

Garcia and Kat looked at each other and Reid raised his eyebrows, not understanding what he was missing. He felt very comfortable with Berenice since the night they had seen _Where the Wild Things Are_, and sometimes he forgot why he was there. That morning was one of those occasions. Berenice had the gift of making feel comfortable anyone who was at her side, and, although there was a murderer chasing her, she had organized a breakfast for everyone. Reid couldn't think about a single negative thing in this girl, in fact, every new discovery surprised him more positively than the last. The others had noticed the mutual attraction, and Morgan made Spencer knew it whenever he could. The closeness they had before seeing the film hadn't been repeated, and Reid attributed it to temporary insanity by Berenice. Unknowingly, both expected that the other showed signs of wanting something more.

Everybody else arrived soon, (including Hotchner, to Berenice's surprise) and they had breakfast together. Obviously, the conversation quickly changed to the case, and when they mentioned the word "rape" for the third time, Kat said her goodbyes with a grimace.

"I leave you with your fascinating conversation." She said, bending down to kiss Berenice on her cheek. "I'll be back soon. Don't get kidnapped."

"I'll do my best." Berenice answered with a smile.

"We will take care of that." JJ said, giving an affectionate squeeze to Berenice's arm. Kat stroked Grammy's head and opened the door, but before leaving she turned around.

"Hey, smartass." She said, and everyone looked at Reid, who looked up. "Take care of her, ok?"

Reid raised his eyebrows, but nodded, and Kat went away with a smile.

"Okay..." Prentiss said, containing a smile. At that time, the pancakes and the syrup had been replaced by unpleasant pictures that Berenice tried not to look, but the coffee cups were still there. Penelope had already pulled out her laptop and was typing frantically, looking for something, Berenice didn't know what. "What do we have about the five girls?"

JJ sighed.

"They disappeared somewhere along the way home from work. The files have something interesting..."

"Yes." Reid said. "I'm looking at Anna Clark's file, she was married… Her husband received a note."

"Rachel McCarthy's too." Morgan said. "Her boyfriend received a note. It was found stuck in the window of the room. It says _'She has always been mine, Jack.'_ Jack was the boyfriend's name."

Berenice felt a shiver run down her back.

"Yes, Anna's husband received the same note, with the name's change." Spencer took the note, tucked inside a plastic, a simple white paper with the words: _She has always been mine, Robert. _Berenice swallowed. The couples of these guys were long dead.

"He only sent notes to the boyfriends of the victims?" Prentiss said. "And the victims who hadn't a couple?"

Hotchner shrugged.

"They didn't receive anything. It seems that he's just trying to emphasize his possession on the girls before the ones he considered his competitors."

"So romantic." Garcia whispered with her nose wrinkled.

"And the cases weren't linked?" JJ asked. Rossi shook his head.

"No. One was in Portland and one in Arizona. This Unsub moves a lot."

"It makes sense, right?" Berenice said, the others looked at her. "When you have a breakup, it's normal to change of scenery. I don't know, who didn't want to move after breaking up with your boyfriend?" She shrugged. "In this case, with break up I mean murder."

Prentiss nodded.

"Yes, of course, it makes sense." She said. "For him, killing them is painful."

"If it's so painful he could just stop doing it." Berenice said, rising from the table. "If you need me I'll be in my room."

The girl left the living-room and went into her bedroom.

"Hey, Reid." Rossi said. "How's she doing?"

Reid shrugged.

"Very well, as long as nobody talks about it. I think she prefers to pretend that nothing happens, as a defense mechanism."

"It's logical." JJ said. "I think if she thought a lot about it she'll end up going nuts."

Reid took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I agree. But I think she has a lot of trust in us."

Hotchner nodded.

"We won't disappoint her, then."

* * *

It was nightfall when Reid knocked Berenice's door. They all had gone, but Prentiss and him. Berenice had rarely gone out, just to get something to eat or go to the bathroom, and Reid wanted to make sure she was okay before asking something for dinner. When he got no answer, Reid opened the door slowly, and found Berenice laying on the bed, with headphones and staring at the ceiling. When she detected his presence, she rose on her elbows and took off the headphones, smiling.

"Hi." She said. "Come in."

He smiled and entered, closing the door behind him and he sat on the bed.

"They're all gone." He said. "I just came to see if you were okay."

She shrugged her shoulders, flopping back onto the bed. She wore her guitars' pajamas again and a dark blue sweatshirt that covered her hands.

"I've been mulling over the notes all day." She said. "I'm scared, Spencer."

Reid sighed and swung his legs to the bed, crossing them in front of him and turning to her.

"I couldn't expect anything else, Berenice." He said. "If you weren't scared, there would be a problem."

He looked at her face, and her martyred green eyes made Reid swallow.

"Have you found anything else?"

"Well, after a lot of questions, the doorman believes he recognizes the man in the second sketch. Apparently, he came one day to repair the building's surveillance system. Garcia has reviewed the videos, but his face isn't visible at any moment. We believe it was there when he took advantage to place the cameras in your apartment."

Berenice swallowed.

"And when was that?"

"In August."

She put her hands over her face.

"God, but if I had just moved in August... I didn't even have all furnished. Do you think there are chances that he followed me from San Francisco?"

Reid shrugged.

"Everything's possible, actually. I must say that this man walks with much carefulness to avoid getting caught. But the doorman remembers that he came in a black Renault. We don't know if that will be of much help, but we'll start looking for black Renaults, a clue is a clue."

Berenice sighed.

"God, I'm so tired." She said. Reid looked at her; she looked at the ceiling, defeated.

"We've been talking about you. We believe that you're dealing very well with the situation."

She looked at him, smiling.

"Adapt or die, that's my motto."

Reid smiled.

"You don't look like the kind of girl who adapts herself... you rather look like the kind of girl that everybody else adapts to."

She laughed.

"You're so terribly wrong, Spencer. Sure, I'm always true to myself, but I try to take the best of every situation. I'm pursued by a homicidal maniac, yes, but I've met a lot of great agents. Especially you."

Spencer smiled broadly.

"What are you listening to?" He asked, changing the subject to distract her.

"Oh, Quaterflash."

Reid furrowed slightly his brow.

"I don't know what that is."

She laughed.

"Oh, do you live under a _rock_, Spencer?" He remained with the same undaunted expression and Berenice added: "It's an 80's rock band. Lie down."

Reid obeyed and lay beside her; she placed an earpiece in his ear, keeping the other to herself, and put a song on her cell phone. A soft-spoken woman's voice began to flow through the headphones.

_Crying on the corner, waiting in the rain,_

_ I swear I'll never, ever wait again, _

_You gave me your word, but words for you are lies... _

_Darling, in my wildest dreams, _

_I never thought I'd go _

_But it's time to let you know... _

_I'm gonna harden my heart, _

_I'm gonna swallow my tears, _

_I'm gonna turn and leave you here..._

"It's beautiful." Reid whispered, while the music played. Berenice turned on herself to be laying on her side and leaned her head on her hand.

"You like?" She whispered. He nodded. And there she was again, surprisingly close, bright eyes staring at him. The same throbbing sensation spread through his body as he looked down to her lips. She bit her lower lip and Reid looked away, concentrating on the song that was playing.

_All of my life I've been waiting in the rain_

_I've been waiting for a feeling..._

_That never, ever came,_

_It feels so close, but always disappears..._

His concentration was ruined when he noticed Berenice's head on his chest, and the girl's hand rested in front of her face, on his stomach. He looked down at her disheveled bun, and smiled. He was surprised to discover that he wasn't nervous, in fact, he felt really good. He moved his hand down until it rested on Berenice's waist and he closed his eyes, carried away by the warm feeling through his body.

* * *

**_AN: _**_So this was chapter 8! I feel like I must remind you that this story has just 12 chapters, so the end is not so far away! The first song, the one Garcia's singing, is _Friday, I'm in love, _by The Cure, and the last one is _Harden my Heart, _by Quaterflash. _


	9. Chapter 9: Unavoidable

**_AN: _**_In this chapter I will mention Reid's addiction to _Dilaudid_. I don't know exactly when Reid got clean, so I just made it up *shrugs*.And I just wanted to say my thanks to all of you once again, I saw this story passed the 50 followings, yay! You're lovely readers, and because of that I want to ask you… after this chapter, some reviews? Pretty please? It would be nice to know what you all are thinking about Berenice and the story!_

* * *

_Love is blind, and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit. _ –William Shakespeare.

**_Chapter 9: Unavoidable_**

When Berenice awoke the next morning, she was surprised at how relaxed she felt. A pounding sound in her ear made her look a little up, and she found herself leaning on a deeply asleep Spencer Reid. She pulled away quickly, but after that a laugh nearly escaped her lips. Had she fallen asleep on top of him? Oh, god, poor thing. Surely he fell asleep of boredom. Her cell phone was unloaded after have been playing music God knows how long. She rose from her bed gently and opened the drawer of the nightstand. Every morning when she woke up, she smoke a cigarette before breakfast, before going to the toilet, before everything. She saw it as her only dirty secret. She took the cigarette and opened the window, going to the fire escape and lighting it up. While she took the first drag, she thought about how good she felt for the simple fact of having slept beside him. Usually she should have woken up feeling stiff and uncomfortable, but she wasn't. Reid made her feel how no one had ever made her feel. _That sounds so typical, _she thought, rolling her eyes, _but it doesn't make it less important. _When he looked at her with those brown eyes, she forgot about everything bad that surrounded her, her heart raced and she felt more relaxed at the same time. He was definitely the most special person she had ever met, when he started to throw away percentages and weird data, she couldn't help but smile and think how fascinating it was that man who talked incessantly of any subject with passion. How he gestured with his hands as he raised his eyebrows, how he twisted his mouth... how he wrinkled his nose when someone interrupted him or when someone was talking about him like he was from another planet. Everything about him seemed perfect to her.

Reid woke up and he had to blink a few times to situate himself. He wasn't the kind of man who was used to waking up in strange beds without knowing how he got there, but when he saw the phone at his side, and felt the earpiece on his ear, the memories hit his mind. He sat up and stretched his back until it cracked.

"Berenice?" He called out when he saw the window opened, feeling suddenly frightened. His heart went back to its normal rhythm when he saw her stick her head in from the window.

"I'm here." She said. He went to the window.

"What are you doing there? It's raining."

She shrugged.

"I'm not getting wet here. Don't judge me." She said, when he stuck his head out the window and looked at the cigarette. Reid rolled his eyes after taking a quick look to the street. It was high enough; she wasn't in danger sitting there.

"You know that a cigarette takes six minutes off the end of your life? 6 minutes you won't live?" Reid said, pointing the cigarette with his chin.

She gasped in surprise. And then she shrugged.

"I guess I'm going to die anyway. And possibly soon. In fact, maybe I should get addicted to something stronger."

Spencer stared at her, biting his lip, and she instantly regretted what she had said, but before she could react, he had left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Shit!" she said aloud, cursing. Tell that to the person who was trying to keep her alive with more energy... she could be such an idiot sometimes.

She stubbed out the cigarette and got dressed, and then she left the room just to see how Reid closed the front door behind him.

* * *

"I don't know if this is a good idea..." JJ said, doubtfully, as she watched Berenice remove the tray from the oven. Berenice put the tray on the counter and took off her mittens, looking at the blonde woman.

"JJ, are you getting cold feet?"

JJ grimaced.

"Maybe I should call Hotch first..."

"No, no, no!" Berenice said, placing her hands on JJ's shoulders. "If you call him, he'll tell us not to do it, and I want to. I need to."

JJ sighed.

"I don't know, Nissy..."

"Look." Berenice said, taking a deep breath. "This morning I had a revelation. And right after it, I screwed up. My mother always told me that the best way to woo a man is through his stomach, and for my experience, my mother's always right. So I'll apologize to a man with cupcakes." She said with a charming smile, showing the candy to JJ. The blonde woman furrowed slightly her brow.

"We're talking about Spencer?"

"We're talking about Spencer."

JJ snorted and then nodded.

"Ok. But don't do anything strange and do everything I say."

Berenice smiled and winked.

"Deal."

* * *

When they reached the police station, JJ bit her lip nervously. She knew this will be worthy of a sermon, she knew it. But something about that girl with huge eyes made her unable to refuse, especially if it was something to do with Reid. She just hoped nothing out of the ordinary happened.

"Good morning." JJ said when she reached the big round table they were all reunited around, unless Hotch and Rossi.

"JJ." Garcia said. "What are you doing...? Oh." She raised her eyebrows when she saw Berenice behind her. She wore a white fifties dress with stamped cherries and a red jacket, her hair fell on either sides of her face, and she smiled nervously. In her hands she was carrying a wicker basket.

"Berenice!" Reid said, rising from his chair. "What are you doing here? You know you can't…"

She raised a hand and waved, interrupting him, and he wrinkled his nose. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then she closed it again. She tried again, but no sound left her lips. In the end she decided to open the basket and show Reid the pile of colorful cupcakes she had prepared. Reid looked at the sweets and then looked at Berenice's eyes, understanding that the girl was apologizing, although he wasn't sure why.

"Have you come here to bring this?" He said, grabbing her arm and walking her away from the surprised looks from his partners.

"Yes." she said, looking at Reid's brown eyes under his frown. "You're mad." She said, without asking.

"I am..." Reid hesitated, without knowing what to say, what he should say, what she wanted him to say. "I'm confused. Are you aware of the risk you take just by leaving the apartment?"

"I came with JJ!" She defended herself.

"And you think that the Unsub couldn't have shot JJ and kidnap you anyway?"

Berenice gasped, feeling a lump in her throat.

"I wanted to apologize for what I said this morning." She said weakly.

"Why?" He said, without understanding anything.

"Because I've been unfair and now you're mad!"

"And why do you care that I got mad at you or not?"

Berenice frowned; her heart was beating so fast it hurt.

"You don't understand." She said, and she crushed the basket against his chest, leaving him perplexed. "JJ, you were right, it wasn't a good idea." She turned on her heels and JJ hurried to go after her, Morgan followed.

Hot tears streamed down Berenice's cheeks as she clutched her fists on either sides of her body. He didn't know, he couldn't see.

"What a genius..." she muttered as she walked out to the street, and a large hand grabbed her arm.

"A black Renault." Morgan said as he placed behind her, JJ followed Morgan's gaze to the big car. The car had the driver's door open, but it was empty. "Take her home." He told JJ cautiously, who nodded and escorted Berenice to the car, while the brunette was shaking violently, suddenly feeling the rush of fear going through her veins.

"Is he here?" She said, turning her head to look at JJ's eyes. "JJ, where is he?"

The blonde woman just looked at her while she pushed her gently to the car, driving off the fast as she could to protect Berenice, getting her away from the danger.

Morgan approached the car while he pulled his phone out, taking the gun with his other hand and looking inside the vehicle. It was empty.

"Prentiss." She answered the phone.

"It's Morgan; I'm right in front the station. It's possible that the Unsub walks by."

"We're going." She said, and hung up. Morgan opened the glove compartment, which also was empty. At that time Prentiss and Reid went out the station.

"It's empty, but I'll look in the trunk." Morgan said. Reid pulled out the phone.

"Garcia." He said, when the beeps ended. "I need you find out the owner of the license plate 697-GFJ, Texas."

"Right now, Wonder Boy." She said, and Reid kept her on the phone.

"You must see this." Morgan said, and Prentiss and Reid traveled to the back of the car. There, a little bottle and a set of strings lay on the gray mat dotted with pictures. Pictures of Berenice's street, Berenice's apartment, Berenice's school, Berenice's face.

"It's him." Prentiss said.

"My God, it's him." Garcia said at Reid's ear, like an echo. "He's the Unsub, Reid, he's just like him. Ian Monroe's the name, he's 32 and he doesn't appear to work or have housing."

"Keep searching." Reid said, and hung up. "Garcia found out that he's called Ian Monroe and he matches the sketch."

"Morphine." Morgan said, taking the little bottle and examining the transparent liquid inside it, the label let him know what was inside it, though reading the word made him cringe. "He planned to take her _today._"

"He can't be far away." Prentiss said, and in minutes, most of the Seattle police forces were scattered on the surrounding streets, looking for Ian Monroe.

* * *

It was almost eleven p.m when Reid got to Berenice's apartment and left the girl's basket on the floor, empty, after a day of fruitless searching. The Unsub had vanished into the air, and the young Doctor was tired and frustrated. He was fully aware of how close he had been of losing Berenice, and that troubled him more than anything else.

"Spencer..." The girl's voice came from the doorway of her bedroom, as he took off his jacket and hung it on the hanger. "Thank goodness you're back. JJ told me you know who he is."

Reid nodded, approaching her.

"Yes, but we couldn't find him. We have issued a warrant for his arrest at all Seattle, but, to be honest, this guy knows how to hide. I don't know..." Reid ran his hand over his face in defeat.

"Sorry." She said. "It was really stupid to leave home to bring you some muffins."

He shook his head.

"I don't understand why you did it."

She moved closer to him, chewing on her lip as she twisted a lock of hair in her fingers.

"Do I have to say it?"

He looked into her eyes, which sparkled in the dim green light of the coffee table lamp.

"This morning I was angry at you." Spencer said. "I wasn't just confused, I was really angry."

"I know, I know what I said it wasn't fair... You're always protecting me and I..."

"No, you don't. It's just... You don't know me, Berenice, you know nothing of me. You don't..." It was one of the few times in his life he was speechless. He didn't know how to express the amount of thoughts and feelings inside him.

"So tell me! What is that darkest secret?"

Reid took a deep breath and bit his lip, and then he took out his pocket a golden coin and put it in front of Berenice's face. If she wanted to know more about him, this was the perfect thing to do. She looked at it blankly.

"This is my medal. I got it after spending a year clean. Today, I've been three years, two months and thirteen days."

Berenice blinked, perplexed.

"You were an alcoholic?"

Reid denied with his head, looking at the coin.

"No. Addicted to a narcotic painkiller."

Spencer's shoulders sank and he went to the sofa, dropping himself on it. Berenice followed him and sat beside him. The memories of what he experienced so long ago, being hit and drugged by Tobias Hankel… It was a dark side of him, and showing it to Berenice was… terrifying, to say the least. He wanted to seem perfect to her, and he knew he was far away from that.

"Why did you start taking them?"

He shrugged.

"A case didn't go well. I got kidnapped and… well, it's a _really _long story."

Berenice frowned, watching a whole new facet of the man she thought she knew. With a trembling hand, she ran her fingers through his hair, and he closed his eyes. The contact was tender, but Berenice felt how her heart raced.

"I'm sorry about what I told you." She whispered, moving closer to him. "And I'm sorry about how I behaved today. I'm aware that I endangered JJ and myself. Can you forgive me?"

He turned his head slightly, resting it on the back of the sofa.

"That's why I got angry." Reid whispered. "Because despite everything, I couldn't get angry at you."

She smiled when he moved his hand to her face and brushed a strand of hair away, placing it behind her ear. It was the first time Reid gave a step to her, the first time he touched her like that.

"Well, you've pretended it very well." She whispered. He smiled.

"Because I was angry, but not with you, with me." He said. "What you did made me think what will happen to my life if something happened to you. I don't know if I could recover from it."

Berenice moved a little closer to him, bit by bit, and inclined her head to his until she touched his nose with the tip of hers.

"You won't have to find out." She whispered.

Slowly, so slowly that it seemed to take hours, Reid closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Berenice's in the most soft way he could, frowning slightly at the sweet taste of her lips. It was even better than how he had imagined it. She sighed and surrounded his neck with her arms, getting him closer to her, as she felt how Reid's hands moved around her waist in an embrace that neither of them, not even trying, had been capable to avoid.


End file.
